Ministry of Economic Affairs

There is a rich range of high-quality cultural facilities available in the Netherlands and the country has an abundance of creative talent even when viewed in the international context. This means that the Netherlands has an important economic trump card in its hands: creativity is an essential element of the modern knowledge economy. An adequate supply of cultural products also has other indirect economic effects on the city’s economy, for example, it contributes to the city’s attractiveness to tourists, as well as the creative classes: creatives, managers, engineers, entrepreneurs, professionals, and so on. In that sense, cultural heritage and the stage arts make a special contribution to local economic growth.

The Role of Economic Affairs
In spite of this sound foundation, the chain - idea to creation - stills lacks dynamism, and as a result the region still fails to realize its full economic potential. For that reason, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (EZ), and the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW) jointly initiated an incentive programme for the creative industry.

The purpose of the programme is to stimulate knowledge exchange, cooperation and innovation by actively laying and developing cross-connections between the creative industry and other sectors. The programme, which was subsidised by funding, to the tune of more than € 15 million, has an experimental and temporary character. The Ministries (EZ and OCW) will keep a finger on the pulse of the programme to test the effects. The aim is to establish sustainable cross-connections between the creative industries and the economy as a whole, and to determine whether structural facilities are needed, in order to establish the connections.