The Dubai Culture and Arts Authority released the findings of a groundbreaking assessment of the Emirate’s cultural and creative industries’ performance between 2018 and 2020. The report, which was created in collaboration with the Dubai Statistics Center, reinforces Dubai’s global competitiveness as a creative economy city and a talent magnet.
The comprehensive sectoral analysis was conducted as part of the implementation of the Dubai Framework for Cultural Statistics, an integrated statistical approach created by Dubai Culture in partnership with the Dubai Statistics Center’s Economic Statistics Department team.
The Framework lays forth statistical definitions and classifications of the Emirate’s creative sector’s domains and operations in accordance with international standards and best practices.
Her Highness Sheikha Latifa stated that since being declared the first UNESCO Creative City of Design in the Mena area in 2017, Dubai has embarked on a number of ambitious initiatives aimed at boosting inter-city collaboration in the field. Dubai has consolidated its status as a global hub for design and a major center for the cultural and creative economy four years after joining the network, a key goal of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, who launched the Dubai Creative Economy Strategy last year.
According to UNESCO, Dubai is the only city in its Creative City Network in the Middle East and North Africa region to publish a framework for cultural statistics, an achievement that underlines the Emirate’s rise as a key regional and worldwide actor in the creative industry.
Dubai recognized the importance of the creative economy in driving GDP growth early on and tried to foster a strong culture of entrepreneurship and innovation in the sector. Despite global economic concerns, knowledge-based industries, such as creative industries, have been important drivers of economic competitiveness, GDP growth, and new job creation. They’ve also had a significant impact on world trade.