Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs) are among the hardest hit by the COVID-19 crisis, prompting a massive migration of cultural activities to online and hybrid forms. As the pandemic triggered the digitization of culture, new challenges are affecting the diversity of cultural expressions with amplified gaps in access, creation, and remuneration. The International Year of Creative Economy for Sustainable Development  offers a timely opportunity to reflect on this new reality, as well as on unprecedented challenges and opportunities. Against this backdrop, UNESCO launched a new project “Digital Creativity Lab” with the funding from the Republic of Korea to address the digital skills gap in the cultural and creative industries and to strengthen policy frameworks.

The UNESCO Korea Funds-In-Trust (KFIT) for the Development of Cultural and Creative Industries has, for over a decade, invested in the development of creative sectors. Building on this momentum and fully embracing the expanding digital environment, KFIT is now shifting its strategic turn toward supporting cultural entrepreneurship in the digital era. The Republic of Korea is one of the very few countries who invested in addressing new challenges and opportunities from the dawn of the digital age in order to generate a rich and dynamic market of cultural and creative industries (CCIs), with the help of pre-emptive public policies. “Digital Creativity Lab” will support training programmes that strengthen digital skills and competencies in the CCIs in developing countries. These projects range from supporting actions to protect musicians’ intellectual property in digital platform, piloting a 3 month-long creative digital incubation programme for female creative professionals aged under 45, and analyzing data on women working in the digital cultural and creative sectors followed by the online training programme to strengthen digital skills and competencies. With this new initiative, it is expected to pilot innovative practices in developing countries to implement the 2005 Convention in the Digital environment.