CICERONE · Project

Data Observatory Mapping Where Creative Industries Thrive and Why

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Imagine you want to understand why some cities become hotspots for film, design, or music — and others don't. This research mapped how creative products, talent, and ideas actually flow between places across Europe. They built an online observatory where you can explore the data yourself — like a Google Maps for the creative economy, showing who makes what, where it goes, and which regions are falling behind.

By the numbers

consortium partners

countries represented in research network

project deliverables produced

demo deliverable (Cultural Economy Observatory)

The business problem

What needed solving

Cities and regions across Europe invest billions in creative industries without solid data on how cultural production networks actually function or where economic value is created versus captured. Policy decisions about creative economy investment are often based on incomplete mapping and anecdotal evidence rather than systematic analysis of production flows.

The solution

What was built

The project built a Cultural Economy Observatory — an online portal providing access to CCI data, literature, key organizations, and interactive visualizations of creative industry production networks across EU member states. In total, 28 deliverables were produced covering research, policy analysis, and capacity building tools.

Audience

Who needs this

Regional development agencies investing in creative economy zonesCultural policy consultants advising national or city governmentsCreative industry cluster managers seeking evidence for funding bidsEU project officers evaluating creative industry support programsUrban planning firms designing cultural districts

Business applications

Who can put this to work

Regional Economic Development

any

Target: City or regional development agencies investing in creative economy

If you are a regional development agency trying to attract creative businesses to your area — this project built a Cultural Economy Observatory with data and visualizations showing how creative industry production networks flow across EU member states. You can use it to benchmark your region against others, identify gaps, and build evidence-based investment cases for creative industry clusters.

Creative Industry Consulting

mid-size

Target: Management consultancies advising on cultural economy strategy

If you are a consulting firm advising cities or governments on creative economy strategy — this project produced research across 9 countries mapping how cultural and creative industries generate economic value in specific places. The observatory portal lets you access data, literature, and visualizations to support your advisory work with real European-level evidence rather than anecdotal claims.

Cultural Industry Associations

any

Target: Creative industry clusters, trade associations, and membership organizations

If you run a creative industry association struggling to demonstrate your sector's economic impact — this project analyzed production networks across 10 partner organizations in 9 countries. The observatory provides accessible data on employment, production flows, and economic contribution of creative industries that you can use for advocacy, funding applications, and member communications.

Frequently asked

Quick answers

What would it cost to access the Cultural Economy Observatory?

Based on available project data, the observatory is a publicly funded research output designed as an open portal. There is no indication of commercial licensing fees. Access is likely free for research and policy use, though custom data packages or consulting built on the data could carry costs.

Can this scale to cover industries beyond the creative sector?

The project focused specifically on cultural and creative industries across 9 EU countries. The production network methodology could theoretically be adapted to other sectors, but the observatory data and tools are purpose-built for CCIs. Scaling would require new data collection and analysis.

Who owns the intellectual property and research outputs?

As an EU-funded Research and Innovation Action, the IP is typically retained by the consortium partners, led by Universiteit van Amsterdam. The observatory and published research are generally available under open access terms. Commercial reuse of underlying datasets or tools would need to be negotiated with the consortium.

Is this research or something I can use today?

The project closed in June 2023 and produced 28 deliverables including the Cultural Economy Observatory portal. The observatory is a functional tool offering data access, visualizations, and interactive features. However, it is a research tool, not a commercial product.

How does the observatory actually work in practice?

The Cultural Economy Observatory is an online portal providing access to data, relevant literature, key organizations, and sites related to creative industries in EU member states. It offers visualizations of relationships and flows in the CCI sector, and users can build their own specific data packages interactively.

What countries and regions does this cover?

The consortium spans 9 countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, and the UK. The observatory covers CCI data across EU member states more broadly, though depth of coverage may vary by country.

Consortium

Who built it

The CICERONE consortium is heavily academic: 8 out of 10 partners are universities, with just 1 industry partner and 1 other organization. Only 1 partner qualifies as an SME, giving a 10% industry ratio. The consortium spans 9 countries (AT, BE, BG, ES, IT, NL, PL, SE, UK), led by Universiteit van Amsterdam. This composition signals strong research credibility but limited commercial translation capacity. A business looking to use these outputs would likely need to engage the academic partners directly rather than finding a ready-made commercial offering.

UNIVERSITEIT VAN AMSTERDAMCoordinator · NL
UNIVERSITAT WIENparticipant · AT
CITY ST GEORGES UNIVERSITY OF LONDONparticipant · UK
UNIVERSITAT DE BARCELONAparticipant · ES
UNIVERSITA' DEGLI STUDI DI MILANO-BICOCCAparticipant · IT
UNIWERSYTET SWPSparticipant · PL
KEA EUROPEAN AFFAIRSparticipant · BE
UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI BARI ALDO MOROparticipant · IT
STOCKHOLMS UNIVERSITETparticipant · SE

How to reach the team

Universiteit van Amsterdam (Netherlands) — search for CICERONE project coordinator at UvA

Order a report on this consortium See UNIVERSITEIT VAN AMSTERDAM profile →

Next steps

Talk to the team behind this work.

Want to use this creative economy data to support your regional development strategy? SciTransfer can connect you with the research team behind the observatory.

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