Creative City Assessment of Riga, Tallinn and Vilnius

Abstract: The aim of this study is to investigate the current status of the capitals of the Baltic States according to the Creative Class Theory. With increasing role of knowledge, creativity and innovation in the today’s economy, the role of the Creative Capital increases. Riga, Tallinn, and Vilnius are the capitals of the Baltic States, experiencing dynamic growth. Therefore, such a study would add to the assessment of the current status and identification of the possible improvements. The Creative Class Theory suggests that knowledge or creativity of people is the main driving force of the economic growth. Thus, for the economic development, a place needs combination of three factors, 3Ts – Talent, Technology, and Tolerance. Each of them is necessary, but not sufficient factor. In order to examine Talent, the authors use three measures of the Creative Class, the Human Capital, and the Scientific Talent. The findings indicate that all three cities have competitive level of the Creative Class in comparison with the other EU countries; however, low level of the Scientific Talent. The authors conclude that the Scientific Talent is an important part of the Creative Class; thus, the cities must find the means to develop it. By comparing the three capitals, Vilnius is the most competitive in terms of the Talent indicator; Tallinn has the second position, and Riga is the least competitive among the capitals of the Baltic States. The second component, Technology, is measured by the Innovation Activity Index and E-commerce Index. These measures indicate that the three cities are rather uncompetitive in comparison with the leading EU countries. Among the capitals of the Baltic States, Tallinn is the most developed according to Technology; Vilnius is the second, and Riga is lagging behind in the Technology measures. To summarize, all three cities need to put an important emphasis on developing Technology. Lastly, Tolerance is measured by using three different indicators of the values and attitudes. According to these measures, Tallinn is the most tolerant city among the three capitals, but the level of Tolerance is rather similar in Riga and Vilnius. From the study of literature, the authors find that the level of Tolerance is related with the economic development; thus, an increase in the income level in the three cities might increase the level of the tolerance. The authors conclude that despite the fact that the Creative Class Theory suggests the need to build people’s climate for the economic development, the three capitals of the Baltic States still need to build the business climate in order to increase the level of Technology, as it is currently the missing component of the 3Ts.