Dubai Culture issues ‘Creative Dubai’, a report on the development journey and growth prospects of the city’s cultural sector

Dubai Culture and Arts Authority (Dubai Culture) has launched a report titled 'Creative Dubai: Dubai's Growing Cultural Industries', which provides a comprehensive overview of Dubai’s cultural sector and charts a roadmap for its growth by proposing a strategy focused on seven enabling factors. The report outlines Dubai’s potential to become a global cultural hub and a pioneer in cultural innovation.

The first report of its kind in the emirate, ‘Creative Dubai’ was developed as part of Dubai Culture’s efforts to implement projects that support the objectives of the Dubai Creative Economy Strategy launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to establish Dubai as the capital of the global creative economy by 2025.
The report identifies key cultural and creative sectors in the emirate and examines their ability to support the city’s economic diversification and shape its future. The ‘Creative Dubai’ report provides readers, ranging from industry experts, policy makers and community members, with insights into the future prospects of the emirate’s creative sector based on its history.

Her Highness Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairperson of Dubai Culture and Arts Authority and Member of the Dubai Council, stressed the strategic importance of launching the ‘Creative Dubai’ report at this important stage in the emirate's journey to document the size of the creative and cultural sectors’ contribution to Dubai's economy and the emirate's GDP. The report identifies growth mechanisms for the sector that can help it contribute to economic prosperity in the emirate, Her Highness said.

HH Sheikha Latifa said 2021 has been a special year in the country’s journey as it celebrated its 50th anniversary and hosted Expo 2020 Dubai, noting that Dubai Culture will continue to harness all efforts to support the UAE’s sustainable development journey in the next 50 years.

“Recognising the importance of the creative economy as one of the catalysts for sustainable economic growth and driving innovation, we launched this report to provide a reference that will guide the development of Dubai’s cultural sector and anticipate its growth opportunities over the next decade,” Her Highness said.

“The cultural and creative industries in the emirate have left a clear economic and social imprint over the past 20 years, contributing to stimulating innovation in other sectors of the economy and also strengthening the social fabric, enhancing knowledge and cultural exchange, preserving heritage, and anticipating the future. In this report, we have identified the performance of creative industries in Dubai and the role they have played over the last two decades,” Her Highness concluded.

Path and enablers

Hala Badri, Director General of Dubai Culture, said that the report identifies the significance and value generated by Dubai’s rapidly growing creative sector and its ability to contribute to the city’s economic diversification. "The report provides a solid basis and clear framework for detailed future studies and assessments on various creative industries. Additionally, the report also helps the government develop a deeper understanding of key industries and stakeholders and factors essential to advancement. This will allow policy makers to develop more effective legislation and incentives.”

The report proposes a set of seven enablers or growth accelerators, which include: Infrastructure, Education, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Talent Attraction, Funding, Regulation, and Public Participation.

Dubai’s strategic plan

Badri explained that the report provides specific strategic recommendations for each of the six main sectors examined. “A comprehensive sectoral report, ‘Creative Dubai’ contains an unprecedented level of detail on the cultural sector in Dubai. Stakeholders in the public and private sectors will benefit from its research-based recommendations that enable them to make informed decisions on policies and initiatives that can be adopted within the framework of the emirate’s larger strategic plan.”

Facts and figures

“The statistics and data featured in the report on the performance of the cultural sector in Dubai are an indication of the creative industries’ ability to shape the emirate’s future and attracting talented creatives to live, work and thrive in the city,” Badri noted.

Key statistics from the report include:

• Dubai’s cultural and creative sector contributed about 4.02% of Dubai's total economic output in 2019.

• Employment in the creative sectors is 3.6% of the total number of jobs in the emirate.

• Dubai's creative economy generated revenues of more than AED37 billion in 2019 and employed over 108,000 individuals.

• The design industry contributed over AED15.6 billion to Dubai’s GDP in 2019.

• The demand for cultural activities in Dubai is steadily increasing: household spending on cultural activity has been rising faster than the increase in total household spending since 2014.

• There are more galleries in Dubai than in any other city in the MENA region.

• The UAE's innovation performance ranks 34 out of 131 economies globally in the World Intellectual Property Organization's Global Innovation Index 2020.

• Dubai ranked among the 10 most influential cities globally in the FutureBrand Country Index 2020.