The creative industry is one of the most important economic sectors in the MRA, employing more than 200,000 professionals and accounting for around 7 percent of regional employment and roughly 15 percent of all businesses. Research by PwC shows that about 44 percent of jobs in the Netherlands are affected to a high or very high degree by generative AI, and that in fields such as art, design, entertainment and media, around 26 percent of tasks could be automated, with entry-level roles affected most.

The new partnership is coordinated by the Centre of Expertise Creative Innovation, led by the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (HvA). It brings education, government and creative businesses together structurally to develop accessible training and new learning pathways, with particular attention to freelancers and micro-enterprises. The goal is to upskill 5 to 10 percent of the roughly 110,000 creative professionals in the MRA each year.

Besides supporting professionals, the partnership also aims to put the creative sector to work on societal challenges in other domains, such as healthcare, energy and construction, where creative skills and design thinking can contribute to new solutions. A wide range of knowledge institutions, industry organisations and European partners are involved in the RSP, including the Gerrit Rietveld Academie, the Federatie Creatieve Industrie and the Regional Hub North-West Europe of EIT Culture & Creativity.