摘要：From my office window in Ultimo, Sydney, I look out on a sky full of cranes, symbols of Ultimo’s building boom. Each day, the first Australian building designed by visionary American architect Frank Gehry currently under construction, seems a little higher. The Gehry building will be home to the University of Technology Business School. The UTS Faculty of Design is already right next door to us at the ABC. Some of our other neighbours are Google, the Powerhouse Museum, Fairfax media, various radio networks and Channel Ten. A little further across town are Sydney University, Fox Studios, the College of Fine Arts and myriad smaller organisations, a network of similar interests.In a precinct dedicated to creativity and ideas, what are the opportunities that come from these businesses and institutions, with their cultural affinities and seamless connections to kindred spirits across the country, working in such proximity? And what value do they bring to the nation’s economy and our lifestyle? Stuart Cunningham has the answers.Creative industries are Australia’s growth industries. Within the economy they now have the kind of prominence that agriculture, manufacturing and mining enjoyed in the past. Australian creative professionals outnumber those working in the mining sector by three to one. The agricultural and forestry sectors by two to one. Yet this flourishing creativity and innovation—while as vital to us as the education sector—is still largely both underestimated and hidden. Stuart understands that better than most. These industries have been his life’s work. Yet at the moment, recognition of their achievement lags behind the reality of how extensive that achievement is.We need to address that urgently, because they clearly have a lot to teach us. The ideas and innovation they generate have a social utility far beyond just these industries. What we learn can help us contend with a range of future challenges. The present pace of technological and social change demands new solutions and ideas, fresh thinking, alternatives. Serious study of the paths to innovation, both successes and failures, will help us understand potential disruptions and dividends more clearly. It will be people like Stuart, who have dedicated themselves to analysing innovation and creativity, who will ensure that success, which has so far remained hidden, will be granted its moment in the sun; to see that the story is finally told.
