Why the Creative Class is Relevant to Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship has become a legitimate approach to stimulating economic growth and development. Over last few decades from the invention of the PC through the dot.com boom-and-bust of the 1990s to nearly universal digitalization, worldwide Internet expansion, and the smart phone, entrepreneurs have proven their value in bringing new products to markets via the creation of new ventures. Unfortunately, only 7% of entrepreneurs are major contributors to the creation of new products and markets. The sustainability as well as growth of markets and economies requires a greater contribution from entrepreneurs. To help solve the growing economic gap including the rapidly shrinking middle class, this article proposes a synergy between entrepreneurship and the emerging Creative Class; clusters of highly talented and mostly college-educated young professional who work in the creative industries. This proposal contrasts with the Industrial-Age perspective where major corporations were the principal source for invention and market innovation. Few would disagree that today's major corporations have changed to be more nimble and responsive to markets and the public but more is need as markets and economics experience some radical paradigm shifts. Scholars have recently confirmed the significant social, cultural, and economic impact of the Creative Class, but present urban planners devise separate strategies to stimulate Creative Class and entrepreneurship. This article proposes a strategy to include both types of social, cultural, and economic participants