The Executive Yuan announced recently that it would promote six key emerging industries to enhance domestic industrial development and to strengthen Taiwan ’s competitiveness with the government taking the lead in investing resources and stimulating private investment. The six key industries—tourism, health care, biotechnology, green energy, cultural and creative industries, and high-end agriculture—will help improve the excessive industrial concentration, and are projected to generate a production value of NT$3.4 trillion for 2012~2013.

Of these six industries, the “soft power” business opportunities of cultural and creative industries have already attracted South Korea , Thailand , and Singapore to invest aggressively in their development. The Taiwan government had listed culture and creation among the industries slated for priority investment back in 2003; the first stage of their promotion saw completion in 2007, and the second stage got under way the following year.

Last year (2008) the Council for Culture Affairs (CCA) formulated a draft “Act for the Development of Cultural and Creative Industries” and mapped out accompanying measures to bring solid stimuli to the economic power of culture and creation of all sectors in Taiwan, toward the goal of making Taiwan a hub of cultural and creative industries by 2013.

Fortify Funding Mechanism

In March this year (2009) the Executive Yuan (Cabinet) established a task force for promoting cultural and creative industries, with the premier himself acting as convenor, and Minister without Portfolio Tzeng Ovid J.L. and Minister of the CCA as deputy convenors. Positioning this task force at the Executive Yuan level reflects the importance the Government assigned to developing these industries.

Promotion of the first stage development of cultural and creative industries was led by the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), and the CCA took over as lead agency for the second stage to fully mobilize the economic energy of those industries. Dr Huang Pi-Twan, Minister of the CCA, feels that stimulation of cultural and creative industries requires a compatible overall environment, and has divided the second stage of this plan into two parts. First is improvement of the overall environment involving five areas: injection of capital, assistance for R&D, expansion of market channels, manpower-training and formation of a matching mechanism, and generation of an industrial clustering effect. The second part involves pinpointing six fields for a flagship promotion plan for the cultural and creative industries.

Dr Huang points out that capital is vital to cultural and creative businesses, and the absence of a funding mechanism that is cognizant of the distinct nature of cultural and creative industries has led to severe funding shortages. Moreover, inflexible regulatory strictures have hampered the effective input by the National Development Fund.  “Over the past four years,” the Minister explains, “only about NT$700 million of the NT$20 billion from the National Development Fund originally earmarked for cultural and creative industries was actually disbursed. The reason for this was not that the cultural and creative industries didn’t need funding, but that almost 90% of all cultural and creative enterprises comprise sole proprietorships or micro-enterprises and, as such, are entirely different in nature from other businesses.  They suffered severe funding shortages because they were treated according to standards established for the information or biotechnology industry. It must be understood that procedures originally drafted for evaluating science and technology proposals cannot and must not be used to measure the value of investing in the cultural, creative and arts industries. For this reason, the threshold and assessment mechanism for the National Development Fund investments in cultural and creative industries should be closely re-examined and entirely re-designed.”

In addition to the original NT$20 billion designated by the National Development Fund, the CCA plans to set up a fund with incentive awards and subsidizing mechanism and service functions. “The National Development Fund operates mostly via investment and financing models,” notes Dr Huang, “where funds injected are expected to be recovered. These subsidies, on the other hand, will invigorate cultural and creative industries by providing funds corresponding to the nature and needs at different stages of their development.

The CCA will also push for establishment of an independent foundation to promote the development of cultural and creative talents, provide marketing assistance, carry out industrial information research, and set up an information platform, as well as serve as matchmaker and contact window for cooperation between cultural and creative businesses and other industries. The CCA has included a provision for the establishment of such a foundation in its draft “Act for the Development of Cultural and Creative Industries.”

In the future, this foundation will act as the agency for the approval and disbursement of incentive awards and subsidy funds, and as referral unit for the National Development Fund. This will greatly ameliorate the funding difficulties that have frustrated smaller cultural and creative enterprises in the past. The “Act for the Development of Cultural and Creative Industries” has already passed its first reading in the Legislative Yuan; Dr Huang hopes that final legal status will be established within this year’s legislative session “…because only when we have a legal basis will we be able to get the entire industrial chain moving.”

Enhance International Marketing

Besides injection of funds, cultural and creative works are also in urgent need of platforms for their presentation. Dr Huang says that Taiwan ’s biggest market at the present time is mainland China ; in addition to working actively with China to organize exhibits that take Taiwanese works to the mainland, the CCA also plans to strengthen the mechanism for cross-straits creative cooperation. With the thaw between the two sides that began last year, Dr Huang comments, “The Chinese side has made a friendly decision about film and TV productions which it has always controlled tightly, to allow TV shows produced jointly by the two sides to be broadcast and published in the mainland, and to participate in exhibitions there. Joint productions now may enjoy equal treatment with TV shows produced by the mainland.”

The CCA is not neglecting other markets. It began last year to participate in major exhibitions in Tokyo , Paris , and Milan , among other places, to propel Taiwanese productions onto the international arena. It is currently planning to cooperate with the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), beginning next year, to set up points for worldwide promotion of Taiwanese cultural and creative works in cities with TAITRA overseas offices.

The CCA also wants to enlist overseas Chinese communities to hold shows and exhibitions abroad, and forge sales channels for Taiwanese cultural and creative enterprises. “A fine model for this,” stresses Dr Huang, “is the Taiwanese Culture Festival in Canada , which has been held for more than 10 years.” This festival, which has won the Canadian government’s Cultural Contribution Award several times in the past, attracted more than 140,000 attendees last year, when it moved from its original venue in Vancouver to the bigger site of Toronto .

Establish an Economic and Asset Appraisal System

According to Dr Huang, Taiwan currently has a relatively mature agency system only for the visual arts and popular music. The CCA plans to invite professional consultants to help establish agency systems in Taiwan in reference to those relatively solid domestic agency systems (such as music agents) and foreign agency systems. The resulting agents or agencies will handle the external work of marketing so that artists can concentrate on their creative work without having to concern themselves with peripheral matters. The CCA also hopes to cooperate with the Intellectual Property Office of the MOEA in bringing in international professional organizations to help set up an appraisal mechanism for intangible assets, and bring Taiwan ’s appraisal mechanism for cultural and creative products in line with the rest of the world.