'Creative economy' needed to drive Kingdom's wealth in the long term: TCDC

To soften the effects of the economic crisis, Thailand should shift away from exports to a "creative economy" strategy to drive the Kingdom's wealth in the long

term.

The Thailand Creative and Design Centre (TCDC) has drawn up a plan for a "creative economy" and will propose that the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB) include it in its 11th plan, to be implemented from 2011-16.

A creative economy would cover business, manufacturing, agriculture and services and allow Thailand to export more innovative products and creative ideas instead of relying solely on more traditional goods.

Narongchai Akrasanee, chairman of the TCDC's advisory board, said the country's growth engine should be changed in line with the world's dynamic economy.

"The 'creative economy' is a business alternative to generate growth from creativity, which is lacking at present," he said, adding that Thailand's export products were losing competitiveness to countries with cheaper production costs.

As a result, Thailand should foster a "creative society" as a foundation to attract more foreign investors and generate value-added income.

During the 1997 regional financial crisis, the government announced the Kingdom's three growth engines were exports, tourism and investment.

These three engines have successfully pushed up the country's export value from US$50 billion in 1997 to more than US$177 billion (Bt6.41 trillion) last year.

However, exports are invariably hit whenever an economic crisis occurs.

To achieve such a creative economy, the Office of Knowledge Management and Development (OKMD) will play a key role in drawing up a master plan and persuading relevant agencies to cooperate.

In addition, the NESDB will join hands with the TCDC to conduct a "creative mapping" survey to identify and locate creative

activities and manpower in the country? Moreover, it will also allow relevant agencies to harness the "cultural DNA" - the truly creative.

Narongchai said the government should actively promote the development of creativity among Thais.

As well, intellectual-property protection should be more focused and creative people encouraged to engage in greater patent and copyright protection.

"We can say that media and advertising firms have a lot of creative content but are still weak in manufacturing.

"We must convince our

people that creative content is

an important factor that we

should develop ourselves instead

of foreigners doing so," said Narongchai.

For instance, Jim Thompson is well known around the world as a Thai silk brand, and Blue Elephant is an authentic Thai-restaurant chain, but they have both been developed by foreigners.