The University of Glasgow is delighted to play a central role in the work of the new UK Policy and Evidence Centre which was launched today (Friday 7 September 2018).

The Centre is an Arts and Humanities Research Council funded consortium set up as part of its Creative Economy Programme.

The Policy and Evidence Centre will address the fact that while the national economic strength of the UK’s creative industries is unquestioned, gaps in the evidence base still exist. Led by global innovation foundation Nesta, with university partners across the UK including Glasgow, the new centre will connect stakeholders within the sector, research communities, and policy makers.  It will develop independent evidence that will inform decision-making across the creative industries and underpin future policy decisions.

Professor Andrew Thompson, Executive Chair of the Arts and Humanities Research Council, said: “Combining world-class arts and humanities researchers with our globally renowned creative industries will underpin growth in this vibrant and rapidly expanding sector within the UK economy. 

“These pioneering partnerships between industry and universities are providing a huge vote of confidence for a sector that is vital to the future prosperity of the UK.”

The University’s contribution will build on the work of CREATe, the copyright and creative economy centre (www.create.ac.uk), which has developed a global reputation for its policy work at the interface of law, society and technology.

Prof. Martin Kretschmer, Director of CREATe and a member of PEC's management board, said: “A new set of questions needs to be addressed. The industrial organisation of the creative industries is rapidly changing. We now live in a platform economy.

“All online behaviour is potentially observable, and whoever controls this data infrastructure will have a stake in the creative economy that is very different from the role of earlier cultural intermediaries.

“We need to understand the effects of intellectual property and information laws on creative production and consumption in this context.”

Prof. Philip Schlesinger, Deputy Director of CREATe, Chair in Cultural Policy, and PEC Co-Investigator, observed: “We are in the midst of a new crisis of regulation. In the foreground are calls to regulate major data-driven corporations and mounting concern about the impact of social media on the tenor of political life as well as everyday interaction and behaviour.

“The classic model of regulating public service media is also coming into question. As consumers shift to players such as Netflix and Amazon Prime, new questions come into focus. Systems will change and we want to influence new thinking.”

• The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), which is part of UK Research and Innovation,  funds world-class, independent researchers in a wide range of subjects: archaeology, area studies, the creative and performing arts, design, digital content, heritage, history, languages, philosophy and much more.

 

 

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Enquiries: media@glasgow.ac.uk or 0141 330 3535

First published: 7 September 2018