Agenda

Action line 8 of the World Summit Information Society is “Cultural diversity and identity, linguistic diversity and local content”.

The impact of new technologies on culture and the creative economy is multifaceted, bringing benefits and challenges that require more sophisticated, transversal and dynamic solutions and national roadmaps. The rapid digital transformation of the creative economy has fundamentally altered the way cultural goods and services are produced, distributed or accessed. While the digital transition has done much to encourage innovation in the production of works and to democratize access to culture among diverse audiences, it has also led to the emergence of a number of challenges linked to issues such as safeguarding freedom of expression, fair remuneration for artists and the diversification of actors and content in the digital creative economy.  These need to be urgently addressed in order to ensure that new digital tools and technologies benefit all of humanity. 

In recognition of the shifting digital environment for the cultural and creative industries and its concurrent opportunities and challenges, UNESCO paved the way for enhanced governance and international cooperation in this field by establishing Guidelines on the Implementation of the 2005 Convention[1] in the Digital Environment with an accompanying Open Roadmap.   The newly adopted UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence further recognizes that while AI technologies can enrich the cultural and creative industries, their use could also increase the concentration of supply of cultural content, data, markets and income in the hands of just a few - with potentially negative repercussions on the diversity of media and cultural expressions, as well as on participation and equality. Most recently UNESCO’s 2022 Global Report, Reshaping Policies for Creativity, revealed that while emerging forms of international and regional cooperation are supporting the diversity of cultural expressions in the digital context, national digital strategies often fail to address the needs of the cultural and creative sector. 

 [1] UNESCO 2005 Convention for the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions

This panel discussion will address questions such as:

·         How is access to the digital creative economy being expanded to include the participation of a diverse range of actors (especially in terms of size, geographical location and gender)? 

·         What lessons on promoting the diversification of cultural content and ensuring a more balanced global flow of cultural expressions can we learn from the recent strategies of platforms such as Netflix, Amazon and Spotify that are increasingly investing in local content as a key driver of growth in new markets? 

·         The increasingly dominant role of Internet Service Providers and platforms in the production and distribution of content has a significant impact on how content is discovered. The profit-driven business models of streaming platforms tend to prioritize the visibility of content that drives the most internet traffic without considering the diversity of content consumed. What are some measures that can be implemented by governments and the private sector to enhance the discoverability of diverse cultural expressions on digital platforms to provide more opportunities for local and national cultural actors to gain visibility?

·         What national policies and legislative frameworks could be developed in order to strengthen creative economy in the digital environment?