The system of cultural and creative industries (CCI) in Sardinia is growing and shows a more performing dynamic than other regions. This trend can be attributed on the one hand, to the relative increase in competitiveness acquired over the last few years by the island companies and on the other ti the "saturation" of the production capacity that is registered in other regions, such as Lazio or Lombardy. This growth trend is encouraging and denies any association between the vitality of the sector and the demographic factors. The case of Valle d'Aosta, whose outstanding growth rate is almost of 1% is also emblematic in this sense.
The CCI sector, that is, of creative and cultural enterprises, plays a key role for the competitiveness of the economies of the industrialized countries. It includes companies and non-profit organizations that operate in a vast and varied field. According to the analysis published by Unioncamere and Fondazione Symbola for 2017, 6% of the wealth and 6.1% of the total employment produced in Italy derives from the cultural and creative productive system.
Sardinia is in 14th place in Italy both for the number of employees in the ICC and for added value compared to the national economy. From the analysis of the impact of the ICC on the regional economy it emerges that Sardinia is in 18th place for number of employed in cultural and creative enterprises with respect to the total of its economy: 4.3%. The estimate of the added value deriving from the CCIs with respect to the regional economy places Sardinia in the 15th place. According to the same parameters, between the regions of Southern Italy, Sardinia is in second place, after Campania, for added value and in 5th place, after Molise, Abruzzo, Sicily and Puglia, by percentage of employees.
The reference to culture as an engine of growth for the economy, especially in connection with tourism, is recurring in the speeches on the economic development of the regions in difficulty. In reality, however, the cultural sector seems to have momentum only in the richest regions. The contradiction lies in the fact that the regions in which economic development is supposed to pass from the valorisation of cultural heritage are those in which the ICC is most in difficulty.
Despite an overall disappointing picture, the Sardinian CCIs have recorded interesting growth trends over the last five years. If we consider the added value produced by the sector compared to the regional economy, for example, Sardinia is ranked fourth among the Italian regions: compared to 2016-2017 it has gained two positions and, above all, has recorded a comforting + 4.5%.