Technological innovation and R&D, the disregarded dimension of the creative industries: the case of book publishing

Abstract

Cultural and creative industries (CCIs) have aroused an increasing attention in recent years. The academic production is growing in parallel with the emergence of general reports aiming at supporting governments' strategies. Notwithstanding this increasing and comprehensive interest, a very important matter is usually disregarded, that is the characteristics of the management of R&D and the way of functioning of technological innovations in the value chains organization. This issue is really under investigated in the book publishing sector. Paradoxically, innovations based on technology are "hidden" in CCIs: actors in the cultural industries never think specifically about technological innovations that are considered coming from outsiders. Yet technology plays a key role in the current structure of cultural industries such as the book publishing. Given this context, this article aims at retracing the key aspects linked to the unusual and recent changes due to the Internet and ICTs revolution on the secular book publishing industry. This analysis highlights that digital technologies are not only appropriated by editorial houses (cf. e-books and e-readers) but they have also to be regarded as development. Notwithstanding, publishers seem to play a marginal role, because the main technologies are coming from outside their value chain and thanks to the involvement of new actors like intermediaries.This calls for changes in the traditional vision of CCIs’ policies and regulation.