I have just listened to the presentation by Richard Florida at the Folkhemmet 2.0 event in Stockholm. His theory is that we currently are going through the greatest economic shift in history, greater than the industrialization. He is talking about the shift to a creative economy, a change not based on natural resources, but based on the human mind.
He claims that 50 percent of people in Stockholm are employed in what he calls creative industries, a number that is higher than any other city that he has researched. The numbers for Gothenburg and Malmo are 45 percent and 40 percent. Creative industries are for example science, entrepreneurship, art, entertainment etc.
His advice is to leverage the creativity in everyone, he is not talking about a creative elite. And successful societies are defined by 3T: Technology, Talent and Tolerance.
But as was noted in the following debate that Florida had problems with proving a connection between high creative ranking and prosperity.