Two thousand participants from 80 countries took part in the fourth edition of the international platform that brings together creatives, entrepreneurs and political authorities for dialogue, problem solving and the search for new development possibilities for a global creative economy, an initiative that It was first proposed in Indonesia in 2018.
Tashkent () – The 4th International Conference on the “Creative Economy” (World Conference on Creative Economy, Wcce) brought together in Tashkent, with two thousand participants from 80 different countries, a sector that, according to the director of the Center for the Economy Creative from Russia, Ekaterina Čerkes-Zade, is able to “sell out the rest of the economy.” The theme of the meeting was “Inclusive Creativity: A Changing Reality”, and the venue was the CAEx exhibition complex in Uzbekistan.
Among those invited to the event were representatives of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Qatar Museums, the Aga Khan Fund, the Uffizi Gallery, the Solomon Guggenheim Museum and other major cultural institutions. Special guests included former model Naomi Campbell, author of the book “The Creative Economy: How to Turn Ideas into Money,” John Howkins, and architect and researcher Carlo Ratti, curator of the 19th Venice Architecture Biennale in 2025. .
Present at the opening ceremony were the Prime Minister of Uzbekistan, Abdulla Aripov, the President’s assistant and his daughter, Saida Mirziyoyeva, the head of the Senate, Tanzila Narbaeva, the Qatari Sheikh Hamad Al-Tani, the Secretary General of the UNCstad (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development), Rebeca Grynspan, and many other dignitaries. The Wcce is an international platform that brings together creatives, entrepreneurs and political authorities for dialogue, problem solving and the search for new development possibilities for a global creative economy, an initiative that was first proposed in Indonesia in 2018.
At the last meeting, held in Dubai in 2021, the theme of “inclusive creativity” was proposed, which was also reflected on two years later in Bali, so this year it was entrusted to the efforts of Uzbekistan, through the Tashkent Fund for the Development of Culture and Art. The main partners of the Uzbeks were the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy, Uncstad and Wipo. The chosen topic focused on the evaluation of the social and economic problems caused by the increasingly rapid development of technology and the use of artificial intelligence.
They discussed what the cities of the future will be like, which will have to be increasingly liveable and welcoming, how to channel investments towards the creative industry and what problems arise regarding intellectual property in the age of AI, all on the channel YouTube Fund of Uzbekistan. Čerkes-Zade reiterated that “we understand each country through gastronomy, fashion, music, cinema, and from these impressions we make decisions about visiting it as tourists or opening a business, investing money, what we call the soft power effect ». Based on these principles, the experts met with many entrepreneurs in the creative industry, which “cannot live in a vacuum.”
At the fair you could visit the CreatiVillage, a specialized exhibition complex to showcase the numerous projects and services of state and private organizations from Uzbekistan and other participating countries. The Kazakh delegation presented a stand prepared by the Institute of Creative Innovation together with the Almaty Art Museum, the first private museum of contemporary art in Central Asia, which will open in spring 2025, thanks to the initiative of the collector and patron Nurlan Smagulov. At the end of the Wcce assembly, the Parliament of Uzbekistan approved a “Concept for the development of the creative economy” until 2030, with government programs to be implemented in the 2025-2026 biennium.
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