For a country with no natural resources to speak of, Malta’s only means of shaping its own economic future and beating new paths toward prosperity is through the creativity, in all its manifestations, of its people.

We hear a lot about how the country’s human capital is its only natural resource and how that resource needs to be exploited, in the positive sense of the word, if it is to forge a new economic future for the present as well as for posterity.

What this boils down to at the end of the day is not a question of the number of hours put in at the office or factory, but, rather, the amount of creativity put into the tasks at hand, and the creativity of the country’s human capital to develop new areas - or reinvent old areas - of expertise and subsequent economic activity.

It is no secret that Malta is no China or Taiwan, the country’s strength never has and never will lie in large-scale manufacturing operations. That may have been a stopgap solution to the economic crisis the country had been facing after independence, but that solution belongs to another time and simply no longer applies.

It was several years ago that the government began speaking of the need to put added value into the economy, to divert its focus from low-end, high-volume manufacturing in favour of the high-end, low-volume, and large-value added operations.

And that is exactly where the economy has been heading, and while the country is surviving as matters stand, just barely some would argue, there is a lot further that we can go along such lines, but that all really and truly depends on how creative we can be, and, as a country, how that creativity can be fostered, nurtured and be guided toward the right and most advantageous market outlet.

That one automatically associates creativity with the arts is only natural, but the ways in which creativity is applied are virtually endless. The creative process stretches far beyond the arts - creativity, when applied successfully, is the key to any and all success in any given sector.

With such thoughts in mind, we cannot but welcome this week’s publication of a draft national strategy for the creative and cultural industries, a 700-page document that was two and a half years in the making.

We say ‘healthy’ because figures released this week show that the country’s creative economy comprises 3,600 enterprises, employs 7,500 ‘creatives’, and is growing at a rate of 9% per year. Accountable for some 4% of gross domestic product, the creative industry is about the same size as the country’s construction industry and is just behind financial services.

The strategy identifies four main pillars through which to take the country’s already healthy creative sector further: incentives for such industries to better tap the local market, turning Malta into a creative hub for the Mediterranean region, to strengthen entities such as the Malta Council for Culture and Art and the Malta Film Commission so that they can better support the industry’s needs and to consolidate and adapt the educational framework with creativity in mind.

The document defines the main areas of the country’s creative economy as heritage, the arts, media and creative business services. It could be argued that it is this fourth area, creative business services, which could at the end of the day prove to be the most successful. Creativity, whether derived from talent or skill, creates entrepreneurship, intellectual property, new jobs and companies, and it also helps older business to reinvent themselves.

Such creative enterprises hold great potential in terms of generating economic growth and employment – in many cases out of thin air, and in the process they create value where there was none in the first place.

Creativity can be a buzzword and the area can also easily be underestimated. Many parents have a tendency to steer their children away from the creative sector in general, directing them towards what they see as more stable employment prospects, but the youthful thirst to enter the creative arenas is a desire that must not be stifled – creativity in most cases not only makes for happier, more well-rounded people, but it can almost always be brought to market in one form or another. This has always been something of a stumbling block in this country but the strategy announced this week proposes a number of ways to help that happen.

The Maltese have long been known to be shrewd in business and trade; entrepren-eurial spirit and acumen continually transforms the challenges faced by a small country, such as Malta, into opportunities. This is the very hallmark of creativity. Let the country rise to the challenge and the young and old explore new, creative areas. Let us flex our creative muscles and in the process tone those muscles and put them to greater work towards the betterment of the workforce, the economy and the country as a whole.

All are encouraged to provide their feedback to the draft strategy, and to form part of this new creative process so as to make it, and the country along with it, as successful as possible.