Türkiye—Technical Assistance to Create in Izmir: Entrepreneurial Hub of Cultural and Creative Industries Project

Türkiye has rapidly urbanized in the last 20 years, establishing itself as an upper-middle-class country. However, the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated existing issues with rising inflation, youth unemployment, financial sector vulnerabilities, and poverty. Despite the political and economic constraints in Türkiye, the cultural and creative industries are still an enormous source of job opportunities and growth. This project is designed to expand the commercialization and internationalization of cultural and creative businesses for İzmir and the region to strengthen Türkiye’s competitiveness in the global economy.

The project is working to establish a Creative Hub to integrate creative actors and strengthen the cooperation and networks between creative firms, entrepreneurs, freelancers, and other actors to share common resources and exchange knowledge. The project also addresses the existing gap in knowledge exchange and networking between the cultural and creative industries’ actors at the micro, mezzo, and macro level.

This project is an opportunity to increase the recognition of İzmir around the world, making it attractive not only to other creatives but also investors, businesses, and tourists. Our team works closely with İzmir University of Economics, İzmir Development Agency, Aegean Young Businesspeople Association, and İzmir Tourism Foundation, to contribute to the project’s overall objective of increasing and sustaining competitive growth and development in İzmir and the surrounding area.

Sample Activities

• Deliver specialized training, mentoring sessions, and key support services to creative entrepreneurs and firms and the tourism and manufacturing industries they interact with, in areas of entrepreneurship, networking, accessing finance, and business management.
• Facilitate knowledge transfer from European best practices in hub management and supporting creative industries.
• Increase awareness of the Creative Hub by developing and implementing an integrated communication, marketing, and public relations strategy.