Welcome!

Europe is at a crossroad – how can we turn the current crisis into new opportunities and make the economy competitive and sustainable in the
long term. Creative industries have the potential to do all this and much more. Creative industries bring not only growth and jobs, but also foster innovation and shape attractive environments for people to live in and visit.

Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have experience in working together to develop creative industries. Th e first network
to combine policymakers from the three countries was already initiated back in 2006. Since then experts and offi cials have been sharing best
practices in the creative industries and formulating common positions within the European Union. The three Baltic countries have also been vocal advocates of including culture and creativity in the Europe 2020 strategy and its flagship initiatives.

The collection of articles titled “Creative Industries in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania 2010” is yet another coordinated project to analyse the Baltic
approach to developing creative industries, and present an overview of the latest developments in the sector. The focus for this first overview is on creative incubators as an eff ective measure for promoting and supporting entrepreneurship within cultural and creative industries. We also explore the ways forward to enhance cooperation between the three countries, especially in light of the coming EU financing period. We sincerely hope that our experience in developing creative industries could also prove useful for other countries.