Thailand to escalate the creative economy through Bangkok Design Week

BANGKOK, THAILAND - Media OutReach - 9 March 2023 - Thailand has rapidly expanded throughout the years in all dimensions – economy, social, environment, science and energy. When the Royal Thai Government has included Creative Economy in the country’s strategic plan as a tool to scale up development, it acts as a call for commitment, collaboration and support from all sectors of the economy under the supervision of the Creative Economy Agency (public organization) or CEA.

Entrusted with the responsibilities of driving the creative economy forward, CEA has organized a number of events and campaigns bringing together think tanks and experts, talents and creative minds to share their insights, explore best practices and address a common ground for future growth since it launched in 2019. The three main annual projects under design week platforms that contribute to Thailand’s GDP each year are Bangkok Design Week, Chiang Mai Design Week, and Isan Creative Festival. For Bangkok Design Week 2023 which was held for the 6th time, CEA also aims to attract interests and inspire those involved to join together in developing the city of Bangkok to become an even more friendly place for all highlighting six essential dimensions - environment, travelers, culture, business, community and diversity. Over 530 programs were organized featuring four key activities namely showcases and exhibitions, talks and workshops, events and programs, and creative market platforms and promotions to provide business opportunities and generate income and those related to atmosphere and environment. The activities brought together the cooperation of some 60 private and public entities and over 2,000 creative individuals including international creative industries, Taiwan and Moscow also took part in this event showcasing their exhibition.

Addressing the opening of the recent Bangkok Design Week 2023, Mr. Chakrit Pichyangkul, Executive Director of the Creative Economy Agency explained that CEA is working in support of the government’s policy in driving Thailand’s creative economy through creative individuals, businesses and places. The Thailand Creative District Network (TCDN) project was launched in response to the creative areas element with the Bangkok Design Week event as one of the essential platforms. The past five Bangkok Design Weeks during 2018 - 2022 helped generate an economic value of some 1.368 billion Baht (40 million US dollars) and were attended by over 1.75 million visitors.

The Bangkok Design Week 2023 event in February was organized under the concept “urban’NICE’zation”, placing special emphasis on design and creative concepts/ideas to improve living conditions and surrounding areas of Bangkok. “Corresponding with the goals of the network, Bangkok Design Week 2023 event aims to promote ongoing development and encourage economic growth within the Bangkok area. The event has continued to play an essential role in promoting creative industry and generating economic value for the country” said Mr. Chakrit Pichyangkul.

The Royal Thai Government is also pleased to announce that since 2019 Bangkok was designated as a member of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) under the Design category (UCCN – Bangkok City of Design). In conjunction with the Bangkok Design Week 2023, the Bangkok Creative City Dialogue, an equally important event was held, bringing together member cities from the Asian and European regions including the People’s Republic of China, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand and the United Kingdom. This is an arena where they shared their insights and experiences, on “Becoming and Creating Impact as a Creative City” on issues related to the category each city was named for such as design, gastronomy, and crafts and folk art. An aspect of culture was included in the discussion as it has become an increasingly critical issue in strengthening international relations, driving business and future economic expansion.

Representing Thailand at the Bangkok Creative City Dialogue was Mr. Pichit Virankabutra, Deputy Director of the Creative Economy Agency, reinforcing the ideas of using creativity to overcome the challenges of Bangkok under the topic “Transforming Bangkok with Design and Creativity”. “Creativity will be an important element to make Bangkok an attractive place for living, investment and travel. Design has been highlighted as an element to help solve existing problems for Bangkok with the aim of promoting better welfare of the people. In doing so, plans were made focusing on four important dimensions of the city. First, City design focuses on increasing green areas and effective use of available areas. Second, Social dimension with the use of the Traffy Fondue system designed by the National Science Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) where the public are able to take photos and notify the problems with immediate remedial actions. Third, Economic and wealth using the know-how of talented designers to promote business sustainability where CEA has worked with various organizations to ensure its continuity for other branches of businesses. Last but not least, Transportation under the Green City policy such as the introduction of electric boats to reduce water pollution. I am pleased to say that CEA has put together a Creative City Index to collect data of creative economy growth and factors that encourage creative economy in five key cities in Thailand. The lessons learned from data collection have been used to further develop other 33 cities through Thailand Creative District Network (TCDN)” said Mr. Pichit Virankabutra.

CEA and other related organizations are committed to putting together a robust framework and roadmap to success for Thailand’s creative economy, making Bangkok a hub for good living location, travel, and investment. And to position Bangkok on a global stage as the City of Design under the UNESCO Creative Cities Network.

For more information, please visit www.cea.or.th.

Hashtag: #CreativeEconomyAgency #BangkokDesignWeek #BKKDW2023 #BangkokCreativeCityDialogue #TCDN #CEA

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