CREATIVE INDUSTRIES INNOVATION DIFFUSION NETWORKS. SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE ANALYSIS

Research background: innovation is a key factor in determining the growth of the creative industries sector. However, it also highlights the importance of the creative industries to the broader innovation process within the wider economy. Synergies between the creative industries and companies in other sectors create conditions for the diffusion of new tech-nologies. Creative industries companies typically utilise a large, diverse network of relationships, facilitating easy access to new knowledge and faster assimilation. Purpose of the article: the purpose is to present a sys-tematic literature review of research papers on creative industries, innova-tion diffusion and network analysis, and to identify future research direc-tions. Methods: this paper presents the results of a systematic literature review of 54 articles on innovation diffusion networks within the creative industries, as indexed in the Web of Science database. Findings & Value: the study reveals that innovation diffusion within the creative industries has positive effects within the sector and across the broader economy. The review also reveals that qualitative and mixed-method approaches domi-nate the current research landscape, indicating a need for more robust quantitative modelling in future studies. Results from scientific research analysing the impact of innovation diffusion networks on the creative in-dustries sector have shown that existing networks significantly affect the social and economic environment of other industries, regions and the na-tional economy. Although the authors emphasise the importance of net-works for the diffusion of innovations in the creative industries sector, few empirical studies have focused on identifying these networks.