Current debates about knowledge transfer and its role in the development of Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) have often focused on specific high-technology sectors. These have likewise focused on the role of specific systems of technology, as well as in the capacity of such systems to propose multilateral exchange of resources between companies, public policy institutions and Higher Education Institutions (HEI). Cultural and creative industries (CCI) have remained on the periphery of these debates, despite a recognition of their specificities in terms of their business models, leadership and engagements with regional and local contexts. In this communication we seek to analyse the institutional frameworks mobilised for the development of knowledge transfer specific to the CCI, within selected regions of the Atlantic Area of five countries (Portugal, Spain, Ireland, United Kingdom, France). Our goals with this communication are 1) to characterise the policies undertaken in relation to knowledge transfer within the Cultural and Creative Sector, noting how they fit into the distinguishing features of the cultural and creative sector; 2) to survey the perceptions of local stakeholders of the knowledge transfer system as it pertains to cultural and creative industries; 3) to identify possible guidelines for policy development that bridge innovation and socioeconomic growth within the CC industry. To this end we proceeded to do a qualitative analysis of 54 reports, policy documents and academic appraisals of the sector, identifying policy-types, as well as descriptive analysis of a survey of 130 small and medium sized companies. Our document analysis points to geographic asymmetries that tie to the evolution of policy concerns within the various countries, with a cross-cutting lack of policy addressing knowledge transfer in the sector. This is especially true in terms of the capitalisation of symbolic knowledge. Furthermore, these results fall in line with the perception of local actors: the latter point to a lack of joint investment in projects, difficulties in university-market transitions for students, as well as communicative difficulties in terms of the results. These results lead us to characterise the current institutional frameworks as disconnected from the needs of the cultural and creative sector, and point us to several lines of research into the relationships between Higher Education Institutions and the CCI within regional bounds.

Projecto 4HCREATE

knowledge transfer,cultural and creative sector,regional policy,innovation