Education | Creative Industries Centre hopes to contribute to economic diversification

Lei Heong Iok

The Macau Polytechnic Institute inaugurated its Cultural and Creative Industries Teaching and Research Centre (CCITR) last Friday at a ceremony attended by a large number of high-ranking officials and field experts from Macau, Hong Kong, Beijing and Taiwan.
During an opening speech at IPM’s auditorium, Lei Heong Iok, president of the IPM, remarked that since 2010 – when the MSAR began promoting cultural and creative industries – it was found that the “weakest point” lay not in the lack of cultural creativity but in the “educational plan for personnel in the industry” and the lack of “research on the policies for long-term development of the industry,” which Prof Lei said was “very necessary for the growth of the local industry.”
Lei also commented on the issues the CCITR will address and be able to tackle from now on, with the help of the experience gathered by IPM. According to Lei, the institute has trained more than 1,000 individuals in creative arts since the creation of the School of Arts back in 1994.
The head of the IPM said, “The policy of ‘adequately diversified industries’ presents [today] a pressing need in Macau, while the development and spread of cultural and creative industries opens an avenue to the diversification of the economy,” he said.
Prof Lei concluded by saying “the newly established CCITR will leverage from IPM’s advantages, drawing on the resources of various areas such as Sino-western cultures, Portuguese teaching and gaming research, assisting in the training personnel, and being devoted to long-term education.”
The CCITR will be headed by Hsu Hsiu-Chu, who highlighted the role of the new facility in providing a “positive response [from the IPM] to the Macau SAR government’s promotion of cultural and creative industries.”
“We have the conviction that, taking the lead from the centre as it carries out its mission, IPM will be able to contribute more to the enterprise of cultural creativity in Macau,” Prof Hsu said.