The creative economy ̶ or the Orange Economy as it is referred to in Colombia ̶ is an important development driver, not just through its direct economic impacts such as job creation, income generation and exports, but also through its ability to spur innovation and spillovers across the economy. Culture-led local development strategies can transform places, making them more attractive for visitors and businesses while also addressing pressing challenges, often from new angles, from supporting the digital and green transitions, to fostering social cohesion, to promoting health and well-being.
Colombia is a pioneer in placing culture and creativity at the heart of its development model. Its comprehensive Orange Economy policy framework mainstreams culture and creativity across a number of policy agendas such as employment, inclusion, business development, foreign direct investment attraction and local development.
This report reviews Colombia’s policy framework, highlights progress in policy implementation, and provides evidence on the Orange Economy trends and economic footprint. A key focus is on Colombia’s push to foster creative districts as a means of local development as well as the current state of the financial ecosystem to support the creative economy in Colombia. Recommendations draw on international good practices to suggest ways to further realise Colombia’s creative economy opportunities.
This report is part of the OECD work on culture and creative sectors, which provides evidence and guidance to countries, cities and regions on ways to boost and maximize the economic and social impact of culture and the creative economy. Recent and forthcoming publications include; The Culture Fix: Creative People, Places and Industries, Culture Shock: COVID-19 and the Cultural and Creative Sectors, as well as a series of regional reviews on Culture and the Creative Economy in Emilia-Romagna (Italy), Glasgow City Region (United Kingdom), Flanders, (Belgium) and Klaipėda county (Lithuania).
This report was developed by the Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities (CFE), as part of the Programme of Work and Budget of the OECD Local Employment and Economic Development (LEED) Programme. The report was approved by written procedure on 4 July 2022 [CFE/LEED(2022)21].