Aesthetic innovation and the growth of EU regions: Real effects of artists?

Since the introduction of the notion ‘creative class’, artists have been portrayed as contributing to the innovation dynamics of cities and regions. While insights from qualitative studies suggest positive externalities from the arts to the knowledge economy, quantitative analyses so far offer only limited or no support for a systematic positive contribution to the (overall) innovative performance of regions. In this paper, we focus simultaneously on innovations of a technical nature (measured by patents) and of an aesthetic nature (measured by design rights). Relying on data of a large set of European regions (NUTS 2), we examine their joint impact on regional economic growth, and we analyze how different types of human capital – besides scientists and engineers, also artists – are associated with regional innovative performance. Our findings reveal that both types of innovation are relevant for explaining differences in regional growth. In addition, the analysis signals a distinctive contribution both from artists and from scientists and engineers, albeit in different activity realms. While scientists and engineers’ contribution towards regional innovation is very outspoken but confined to technological innovation, the presence of artists in the region is associated with technological and, more pronounced, with aesthetic innovation. Overall, our findings suggest the relevance of adopting a more encompassing view on innovation and creativity when assessing regional growth dynamics.