What is the orange economy?
Everything you need to know about the Orange Economy
What is the Orange Economy?
The Orange Economy, also known as the Creative Economy, is the bringing together of sectors of the economy "whose main purpose is the production or reproduction, promotion, dissemination and/or the marketing of goods, services and activities that have cultural, artistic or patrimonial content" according to UNESCO.
What are the characteristics of the creative and cultural industries?
- These industries co-ordinate their activities amongst themselves, transforming ideas into cultural and/or creative goods and services.
- The value of these assets is determined by their degree of innovation, reflected in intellectual property.
How is the Orange/Creative Economy organized?
The Orange/Creative Economy is divided into two categories, composed as follows:
Category 1
The visual arts (painting, sculpture, installations and video art) art in movement, photography, the performing arts and shows (theater, dance and puppetry) music (orchestras, operas and concerts) tourism and ecotourism, handicrafts and traditional products, gastronomy, historical centers and archaeological sites, cultural expressions and traditions (e.g. carnivals and festivals) and education in the arts, culture and the creative economy, among others.
Category 2
Cultural industries that provide goods and/or services that can be mass reproduced and disseminated. This includes the publishing industry (books, newspapers and magazines) recorded music, literature, radio and the audiovisual industry (film and television) News agencies and other information services also form part of this category.
Category 3
The following products and/or services belong in this category, referred to as new media and content software: video games, digital platforms, software creation and applications, animation, graphic arts and illustration, jewelry, interactive audiovisual content, architecture, fashion and advertising.
What are the main opportunities for the sector's sustainability and growth?
In order to support creative and cultural entrepreneurs, it is essential to highlight the existing incentives, and review the legislation for regulatory improvement, that benefit the sector's actors and their value chains. Likewise, it is important to encourage the access to, and recognition and consumption of, the country's cultural and creative output.
Colombia's Orange Economy in numbers
The value of the cultural field was $8.2bn in 2017, compared to the $6.2bn recorded in 2010, according to data collected by the Cultural Satellite Account (CSC).
The sectors making the biggest contribution were audiovisual (43%) books and publications (21.9%) cultural education (19.3%) and advertising design (8.7%)
The Orange Economy's participation in the total added value of the country's economy was 1.1%, between 2005 and 2017. The average growth of the cultural field was 5.5% per year, over the same period of time.
The creative and cultural industries generated 247,849 jobs in 2017. These industries are expected to strengthen, not only in terms of job creation, but in innovation, diversification and sustainability by 2022.
Investment opportunities
Segments with some of the greatest opportunities for investment include cinema, the performing and audiovisual arts, IT and software production, the publishing sector, videogames, handicrafts, fashion, jewelry and design.
International companies such as Discovery Networks, Jumio, HBO, Sony Pictures, Jam City, Accenture, Belatrix, Quad Graphics, Telmex and Grupo Cisneros are among the foreign investors who have bet on Colombia's Orange Economy.
The designation of an 'Orange District' in the center of Bogotá is also anticipated, which will become an important area of renovation, commerce, cultural exhibition and the creation of arts.
There is enormous potential for the growth and consolidation of Colombia's creative services. In Bogotá alone, 92% of the cultural sector's industries come together and new projects continue to be founded throughout the country. This represents a significant opportunity for economic development and investment from companies worldwide.
