The European Federation of Creative Economy (Creative FED) is the successor of the European Creative Business Network (ECBN) and connects with over 2,500 creatives across Europe. It counts with 192 supporters spread throughout Europe, located in over 136 regions and metropolitan areas.

In the new European Industrial Strategy¹ for 2020, the European cultural and creative industries (CCIs) are identified as one of the 14 industrial ecosystems that foster innovation and growth in Europe. CCI ecosystems are the main driving force behind the threefold transformation efforts identified by the European Union - Green, Digital and Social - the tripple transformation. Our cosystem is composed of over 8 million talented people across Europe, who work with great passion in 1,2 million enterprises. They enhance the quality of the lives of European citizens and contribute to their well-being. This added value is unquantifiable but essential for society, whilst in economic terms these sectors represent over €477 billion in turnover annually, which translates to almost 4% of EU's GDP.²

The CCIs ecosystem presents a great diversity. It covers a wide range of value chains and sectors from architecture, archives, libraries, museums, artistic crafts, audio-visual (including film, television, and multimedia), videogames and immersive experiences, tangible and intangible cultural heritage, design (including fashion design), festivals, music, literature, performing arts, books and publishing, to radio and visual arts³.

The CCIs ecosystem is made up of 99% SMEs or micro-enterprises who are struggling to attract new talents or meet the demands of new challenges. It also counts very high shares of self-employment, of people working part-time or on non-permanent contracts, which means that workers in this ecosystem face a very high level of job insecurity and a lack of re- and upskilling opportunities.