Abdul Shaban and Filip Vermeylen have been awarded a Scholar Exchange Grant from the India Council of Sciences and NWO. The grant promotes collaboration between Indian and Dutch scholars by funding faculty exchanges. Professor Shaban will be at the ESHCC until 6 June and will return to Rotterdam in October to complete his research.
Professor Shaban is a Professor at the Centre for Public Policy, Habitat and Human Development at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai. He obtained his Ph.D. on planning and development from the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay, and has published widely on urban development of Indian cities, Muslims in Indian society and on regional economic development. In addition, Professor Shaban has held various appointments abroad, including visiting fellowships at the London School of Economics and the University of Paris. For his CV, see www.tiss.edu/faculty/Shaban.
Summary of the project
The creative industries have become an important source of regional economic growth and international trade. Nurtured and thriving creative industries can infuse human-centered development, fuel job creation, innovation and trade while at the same time promoting social inclusion, cultural diversity and environmental sustainability. In India, which has both advanced and traditional sectors of creative industries (both software design and crafts, for instance), little headway has been made neither through research or policy to promote it as an integrated sector. Millions of traditional creative workers in India (artisans and arts-men) who otherwise could have flourished, are unemployed and belong to the neo-poor. A coherent and informed policy could bring new opportunities to these hitherto lower-class workers in the creative economy. During his stay at Erasmus and in collaboration with Filip Vermeylen, Professor Shaban will examine the potential of the creative industries in India, and suggest possible policy development in this area and how India can learn from the best practices the Netherlands, a world leader in the creative economy.