First Creative Economy Conference Reaches Out to Regional Creative Community

[8 December 2004 - Innovation Philadelphia] "The creative economy is based on ideas that are generated by human capital," said Richard A. Bendis, president and CEO of Innovation Philadelphia before a room of 300 attendees at its first Creative Economy Conference in December. "The creative economy generates $44 billion in revenue a year .... This is an important sector of the Greater Philadelphia Region that needs to be cultivated." ... Carol Coletta, president of Coletta and Company, gave a comprehensive overview of the findings of the Innovation Philadelphia-commissioned report, "Young and the Restless: How Philadelphia Competes for Talent." She described how the young and the restless - those in the 25 to 34 age category with four-year degrees - are an HR director’s dream. "They are adaptable, flexible, productive and reasonably paid." But she tempered this with the warning, "they are also the most mobile - and tend to move the furthest." More