The UK’s creative industries are an economic and cultural success story generating £108 billion a year and employing over 2.3 million people. The creative industries are also important generators of new ideas and knowledge, with significant growth potential in sub-sectors that combine science and technology with the arts and humanities.

In October 2023, the Council for Science and Technology (CST) wrote to the Prime Minister to offer advice on how the government can harness research and development across the UK’s creative economy. This work aims to support the delivery of the government’s Creative Industries Sector Vision.

In response to the Council’s advice, Sir Peter Bazalgette, Industry Co-Chair of the Creative Industries Council, said:

I warmly welcome this advice and recommendations. The creative industries can deliver significant economic growth and cultural value to UK PLC in the next decade. Recognising the sector’s potential for R&D-led innovation and backing it with public and private investment will yield huge dividends.

Professor Christopher Smith, Executive Chair of the Arts and Humanities Research Council, said: 

The creative industries are an outstanding example of where human imagination and innovation drives technological advance and economic growth. Arts and humanities are not simply beneficiaries of R&D, they are the fertile ground in which invention, design and application come together. This welcome report sets the arts and humanities disciplines at the heart of science, as the indispensable ground from which can flow innovation for the good of all in our society.

Professor Hasan Bakhshi, Director of the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre, said:

The creative industries rightly now feature as a key plank in the UK’s growth strategy. But when it comes to public investment in R&D and innovation – the engines of growth – they remain under-represented. CRAIC research suggests the sector is the focus of only around 1% of overall UKRI spending, which is very significantly below the sector’s share in Gross Value Added. This CST review led by Professor Julia Black, and the recommendations contained within it to boost investment in creative industries R&D, pave the way for a welcome and urgent corrective.

Caroline Norbury, CEO of Creative UK, said:

As one of the fastest growing sectors in the UK economy, the creative industries need the Prime Minister to lead the way in making the UK the best place in the world to build a creative business. By swiftly acting on expert recommendations from the Council for Science and Technology, the Prime Minister can smash barriers to innovation, productivity and strengthen the UKs global position.