Richard Florida asserts in his book The Rise of the Creative Class that today’s regional economic growth is driven by the location choices of creative people, who prefer places that are diverse, tolerant, and open to new ideas.
The proposed ‘new media’ Ignition Festival being planned for Noosa early next year, could spawn the first creative company to come out of the Noosa Creative Alliance project being mentored by well-known international academic Richard Florida.
Florida’s public policy-makers must recognize that mega-regions are the engines of the newglobal economy. They must support Florida’s mega — the 15th largest in the world.
In recent years, Florida has carved a niche for himself raising the class consciousness of graphic designers, software engineers, research scientists, business entrepreneurs, writers and academics and assorted other people involved in intellectual forms of work.
Florida argues that where you lives affects everything from how much money you make to how happy you are.
Florida points to growth and economic dominance of “mega-regions” as his premise and notes in his book’s sub-title that “the creative economy is making where to live the most important decision of your life.”