SEMINAR ON EU-MACAU BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES, 21 OCTOBER

“Cultural and Creative Industry Cooperation-Inspire, Innovate, Motivate”

The European Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong was delighted to co-host this seminar together with IPIM and IEEM, under the auspices of EUBIP. In her introductory remarks, Ms. Irene Lau, Executive Director of IPIM emphasized the growing importance of this industry in Macau and the flourishing of business opportunities for foreign companies in this field.

The first presentation, delivered by Ms. Veronica Llorca, Project Director of EUBIP at the European Chamber of Commerce focused on the role creative industries play in the EU economy and its uncapped potential of development: this industry represents over 3% of the EU GDP and employs over 6 million people across the 27 EU Member States. In recent years, this sector has drawn the attention of policy-makers at a national and pan-European level, as its economic spill-over potential is now an obvious reality: it is a dynamic sector in constant growth that promotes cross-industry innovation and competitiveness.

 Nonetheless, this industry faces notorious challenges that are encountered by both European and Macanese enterprises: first of all, the size of the companies in the creative industries sector (often SMEs or even micro-companies) results into a larger exposure to risk and economic fluctuations, making this industry highly volatile. Limited access to funding represents as well an obstacle for the development of such companies, which often base their business on private capital and self-funding, as they are unable to obtain favourable credits from financial agencies and attract external investors. Finally, the lack of entrepreneurial and business acumen of many of the creators and founders of such companies often becomes a real handicap for a long-term development of the business, which is not driven in the most cost-efficient manner.

Many of these issues are common to European and Macanese creators and designers, and a call of attention to policy-makers was made by the speakers. A stronger dialogue between stake-holders and local authorities is urged by the industry, which needs more support to consolidate itself at a local and also at an international level and to overcome the obstacles above.

The following speaker, Gianluca Cinquepalmi, Managing Director of the Italian company 1,618, specialized on design, branding, web and advertisement elaborated on the topic of the key to succeed in creative industries, basing such success on 5 cornerstones: desire, charisma, trust, consistency, sense of belonging, . The speaker illustrated his speech with success stories of 1,618’s clients such as Ferrero, AC Milan and Ferrari, amongst others.

Finally, Daniel Gumpert, Operations Director at RMJM, an International Architecture firm headquartered in Scotland delivered a presentation on the challenges faced by his industry in Greater China, and the imperative need to adapt the business strategy and modus operandi of the company in order to succeed in this market.

The panel debate, moderated by Dr. Sales Marques, President of IEEM enlightened the audience with innovative ideas on how to foster the creative industries in Macau: first of all, the gaming industry encloses a great potential for such industries, as its supporting infrastructure and services could be utilized by creative industries. In this sense, Macau should look up at the Las Vegas business model, which is nowadays a leader city in the leisure & entertainment industry thanks to the synergies with the gaming sector.

Secondly, the panellists emphasized the importance of professional and qualified staff, designers and creators, and the need to promote a border-free creative industry: cultural exchange with other countries, import of foreign designers and internationalisation are crucial to the flourishing of the sector in Macau. Examples of local businesses failing in Macau due to the lack of skilled workers opened once again the debate on the need to facilitate the import of foreign workers in the SAR.

For more information on Creative Industries in the EU, please visit: http://www.european-creative-industries.eu/Home/tabid/79/language/en-US/Default.aspx

 For more information on RMJM, please visit: http://www.rmjm.com/

 For more information on 1,618, please visit: http://1618group.hk/

 Please read the media publications:

 Macau Daily Times: http://www.macaudailytimes.com.mo/macau/30731-Creative-industries-MSAR-should-fund-SMEs.html

Jornal da Tribuna de Macau: http://www.jtm.com.mo/view.asp?dT=388403006

Trade Macau: http://www.trademacao.com/business_macao_detail.php?tid=23707&type_id=645

Macau CP: http://www.macaocp.com/Index_Content.aspx?ID=23788

Portal do Governo da RAD de Macau: http://202.175.87.29/web/guest/info_detail?infoid=132473