Location Location Location

I'm not sure I agree with this:

http://www.economist.com/science/displayStory.cfm?story_id=13643981&source=hptextfeature

The article insinuates that highly creative people do their most successful work abroad rather than in the UK. I'm not sure that abroad is the key, whereas I do accept that quite often the stimulus that a trip provides can often make for a more creative train of thought. For every creative person that delivered something unique or memorable abroad there will be an equal number that delivered the same output just at the end of the street (so to speak). George Orwell wrote 1984 on a remote Scottish island for example.

These kind of reports are meaningless in my mind. Richard Florida has done a lot of work in this area, his notion that the creative classes will congregate in places where they find both intellectual stimulation and an environment that suits their needs is a strong one. It doesn't need scientific study to work these things out, there is no real benefit and a million ways to disprove what they've published.

What we do need to know and research is by what mechanisms people working in the creative sectors make decisions with relation to money, business and commerce. There are far too many talented creative people that fail to make money from their work and too many clusters of creative people that develop into creative ghetto's, a syndrome common to the digital media industries. Lifting creative people to the next level of business awareness and commercialisation of their work is pivotal for UK PLC, so let the research commence.