Marc Lis, the www.creativecluster.lu platform has just celebrated its first anniversary. What is your assessment?
The platform was officially launched on May 29 2018. One year later, to the day, we had 265 profiles registered, nearly 19,000 visitors and nearly 107,000 page views, for an average session time of nearly 5 minutes.
The platform is mainly visited from Luxembourg, but also from the United States, India, France and Germany.
It aims to bring creative people together, allowing them to exchange and collaborate, while giving them additional visibility in relation to potential customers.
According to a first survey sent to the users, 16% have already succeeded in generating additional business, while almost 32% have managed to work together with other creative people through this platform.
These figures show that there was a real need for this online showcase we created for the sector. In addition, this need continues to manifest itself with a stable trend of individuals and companies registering.
One of this platform’s aims is to facilitate the establishment of contacts between professionals in the creative industries sector and companies likely to use their services. So the objective has been achieved?
Even though 65% of the members of our creative community have already registered their profiles, it should be noted that we have more than 2,200 creative companies in Luxembourg. So there is still some margin left! I can therefore only encourage all those who are professionally active in the creative and cultural industries to register, especially since it is free.
How has the creative industries sector developed over the past 12 months?
The trend in Luxembourg fully reflects the overall development of creative industries. Activities, events and new projects are constantly evolving and this illustrates the enthusiasm and passion of creative people in several branches of the sector.
I would like to mention, for example, fashiontech, which is developing in Luxembourg, with more and more companies setting up there and developing “sustainable fashion” solutions, with a “Fashion Week” planned for early October.
I would also like to mention the gaming sector, with the creation of a new association (GiDiMa) and the organisation of the 4th edition of Luxembourg Gaming Xperience 2019 at Luxexpo, at the end of September.
But the other sectors have also shown great dynamism: art crafts with the Biennale of the Association de Mains de Maîtres and the participation of 20 craftsmen at the Révélations exhibition in Paris; audio-visual with Luxembourg productions that have won more and more awards; design and music, which, each in their own fields, are developing and displaying great know-how and talents that contribute to Luxembourg’s reputation on an international level.
I also note, at the same time, a very positive development regarding the approach of municipalities that are starting to think about the development of dedicated creative spaces.
Clearly, the creative industries are increasingly valued for their know-how and are positioning themselves in relation to societal themes that are dear to them.
What is the next step for you?
There is not only one! To begin with, following feedback from users, we will proceed with a small redesign of our platform, including the possibility for everyone to download a larger portfolio, and especially audio-visual, on his/her profile. This will be coupled with a social media campaign to explain the “why” of such a tool, both to creative people and customers.
We will also see the completion of a first cross-sectoral project aimed at including creative people in the reflection process of companies in other sectors of activity. This is a concrete illustration of our “Creative Minds for Business” approach.
Finally, pending the finalisation of a strategic plan until 2023, focusing on topical issues for the creative industries sector, we will strengthen our collaboration with the Saarland Creative Industries Cluster, Dock11.
