1. The Value of a Satellite Account for Culture: a policy perspective
Presentation at the OECD Workshop on the International Measurement of Culture, Paris, 4-5 December 2006
Kimmo Aulake, Special Government Adviser

2. Growing interest in the economic impact of culture
Cultural industries are an important part of continuously growing services industries
Globally, their growth rate has outperformed the overall economic growth
Nationally, however, there seems to be significant variations
They have traditionally been approached mainly from cultural, not economic, perspective and their potential to boost economic growth has not been taken fully into account
Currently, there is a boom of interest both nationally and internationally

3. Lacking knowledge base
Many states have elaborate cultural statistics but economic aspects are usually not at the core
The studies/surveys on the economic aspects have typically been carried out by research institutes, not national statistical bodies
They have used varying terminology such as creative industries, copyright industries or cultural industries
Comparisons between the studies are difficult or impossible due to differing methodologies and/or scope
There is an evident lack of knowledge base on the economic impact of culture both nationally and internationally
Difficult to argue in favour of measures intended to strengthen the economic basis of cultural production and/or to follow up their effectiveness

4. National and international initiatives
Creative industries - UK, New Zeeland
Copyright industries - USA, Australia
Cultural industries – Canada
UNESCO – cultural statistics framework in the 1980's and work on international flows of cultural goods and services
European Union – Leadership Group on Cultural Statistics in the EU
WIPO – Creative Industries Division, development of research methodology
OECD – International Measurement of the Economic and Social Importance of Culture, SNA-based systems and Culture Satellite Accounts?

5. Plans in Finland Interministerial Working Group concluded that:
there is a relative wealth of information on the economy of culture
however, the information is not coherent and it is based on a number of different sources and it is collected to serve different purposes
The Working Group proposes that:
a Cultural Satellite be developed to provide for a coherent framework for gathering and analysing statistical information on the economy of culture
Piloting of the Satellite will begin in 2007 with the objective of having a basic model of the Satellite (macro-information module) in production use in 2008
The basic model is to be further developed to include additional modules