What is creativity? How does it work? How do we manage it and how do we profit from it? In 1996, US copyrights were worth $60.18 billion of export sales, surpassing for the first time every other export sector, including automobiles, agriculture and aircraft. Meanwhile the British music business is already larger than its steel industry. Any economy hoping to prosper in a global entertainment and design culture must seize the opportunities presented by creativity quickly. Howkins here explores how this can be done in the real world.