Aiming towards creative city: how Surakarta City government applied the Sustainability-Oriented Innovation (SOI) as a strategy to empower local small and medium creative industries

Abstract

Abstract Sustainability-oriented innovations (SOI), defines as an integration of ecological and social aspects into products, processes, and organizational structures of economic activities. For Small-Medium Scaled Enterprises (SMEs), which engage in small scaled products and limited capital assets as well as human resources capacity, the aim of achieving sustainability becomes a great challenge. According to many cases, SMEs have been only reached the co-production level of sustainability. In this regard, interactions with external actor, such as the government institutions, larger private sectors, and other SMEs are one of the keys of SMEs in attaining sustainability. The role of the government in exhalating SMEs as a part of creative economy environment in the city is important. The government set the creative city vision and then synergizes the SMEs, especially those engaged in creative industries, into the broader organizational structure in the city development. The government also empowers the main actors of SMEs both in techniques, managerial, and financial capacities. The research aims at learning towards the Government-led Sustainability-oriented Innovation strategies in SMEs as a means of promoting the creative city image of Surakarta. Our research was supplemented by interviews and FGDs to explore relevant data and information. The findings revealed that the SOI strategies provided by the city government to empower SMEs to help the achievement of creative city image in Surakarta were undertaken through the introduction of advance information and communication technologies, capacity building to improve community networking, capital accessibility, and product standards and certifications.