Art at the crossroads between creativity, innovation, digital technology and business, a case study

The cultural and creative industries (CCIs) are claimed to bear cultural as well as social and economic value for their potential to generate innovation, growth, resilience and jobs (in particular among youth), spilling over into the whole of society and the economy. The CCIs include many sectors and a diversity of modes of production, distribution and consumption of goods. Creatives and creative firms are generally acknowledged for lacking sufficient business skills and know-how. Eventually, this hinders the commercial viability of business models and the entrepreneurial and scaling-up capacity of creative firms. Digital technologies increasingly challenge CCIs’ traditional value chains and modes of competition, blurring the boundaries between supply and demand. It is therefore fundamental to grasp underlying main economic issues and concepts to better understand the strategies and functioning of creative firms and critically assess and develop CCIs’ potential. The chapter is illustrated through the successful story of the art collective teamLab, a Japanese students' start-up and now an internationally acknowledged company.