Creative industries encompasses business segments in which creativity plays a major role in the provision of products and services. Purely business-oriented activities such as advertising, multimedia, software or fashion/design fall into this sector along with segments at the intersection of business and the arts, including visual and performing arts, literature, music and museums.

Alongside life sciences, information and communications technologies and automotive, creative industries represents one of the core areas of economic focus for Vienna, accounting for biannual investments of 7 million euros.
A recent study commissioned by the City of Vienna on the economic potential of this sector underscored Vienna’s well established urban and artistic cultural milieu, its dense network of educational institutions and its highly developed research community.

The 18,000 creative industries businesses in Vienna account for 24 percent of all companies registered in the Austrian capital.  Half of these businesses were started in the last 10 years.  Approximately 100,000 workers are employed in creative industries in the City, representing 14 percent of its total labor force, and 40 percent of all Austrians active in the field.  The six percent growth in employment in the sector from 1998 to 2002 far outpaced the 2 percent overall increase in employment in Vienna. 

This workforce is not only fast growing but also highly qualified, with one in four workers possessing a post-secondary degree and 44 percent having completed a Matura, a degree from an academic secondary school.

In 2004 a new service and assistance agency, departure - wirtschaft, kunst und kultur gmbh, was formed to bridge the gap between arts and business. departure supports creative industries companies in realizing the commercial value of their creative product and offers a broad-ranging program of financial assistance.