Throughout our history the value we’ve generated for ourselves has fundamentally changed.
The last 100 years alone have seen us transition from grimy Victorian factory floors unto the slick trading ones; migrating from our industrial past into our knowledge based present.
But trust me,we won’t be here for long.
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With the rise of automated trading platforms that make millions of decisions in the time it takes us to read this sentence, our ability to compete becomes negligible. And it doesn’t stop there, the next 25 years will see technology support our doctors and nurses, to then replace them. We’ll lose our drivers to automated cars, cleaners to nano-particle fabrics and shop assistants to online augmented reality previews of us wearing clothes before ordering them.
So can creativity save us?, this isn’t the first time technology disrupts our society.
Before the invention of the alarm clock, “Knocker-uppers” used to knock on the windows to wake people, you would walk on dark London streets without “Lamplighters”, “Bowling Alley Pin Setters” made the game possible and “Switchboard Operators”, now mostly relegated to films set in the 1960’s, would connect you to your loved one.
Technology doesn’t just replace us, it empowers us. Resources that once were only available to large conglomerates are now accessible to individuals and kit that used to cost millions now fits in the palm of your hand which has led to the rise of freelancer culture, co-working spaces and a vibrant start up ecosystem, which in 5 short years have been embraced as the golden child of our economy by our politicians.
But start-ups are a small part of a much wider creative eco-system made up of designers, filmmakers, artists, musicians… that inspire one another and allow for a richness of output which has made the UK a global leader in special effects (have you seen Gravity?), architecture (Lord Foster and Thomas Heatherwick), design (Jonathan Ive), gaming (Tomb Raider, GTA) and many more, and all with minimal support.
With the creative sector now employing 2.8 million of us and growing by a staggering 5% in 2013 alone, it’s high time for us to realise the potential of our sector and start preparing ourselves and the next generation for a world where imagination, communication, agility and creativity are regarded as valuable not just to our personal development, but to the future of our country.
Come discuss the future of creativity with Zealous from the 11th to the 15th of January 2016 at Zealous X. x.zealous.co Tickets start from £29. Now you can also buy a Talk Pass (all talks) here
