The Regional Dependence of Digital Content Industry - Multimedia Gulch

No.40
December 1998
Senior Associate Kou Yukawa

1. By examining San Francisco's "Multimedia Gulch", this study examines(1)the relation between the cluster and the growth of content industry,(2)the city's function as a content industry incubator, and(3)the role of the city government's policies in forming the cluster.
2. The content business requires companies of various talents and agile response to innovation. Due to the nature of content business, young and small companies in the Multimedia Gulch cooperate and support each other in order to complete their projects through face-to-face communication and collaboration. For these activities, the proximity to other content industry participants was indispensable.
3. The present content industry cluster was formed in San Francisco because of the natural presence of(1)good social amenities, (2)cheap rent,(3) artists, and (4)related educational resources. These regional resources are regarded as San Francisco's function as a content industry incubator.
4. The Multimedia Gulch occurred because San Francisco was a suitable place for content business and city government played no role to form the cluster. City government, however, has tried to keep the content industry in the city by implementing various policy options since the Multimedia Gulch became apparent. These policies should be reviewed continuously.
5. In order to promote the content industry in Japan, it is important to develop a cluster where various talents can work and collaborate closely.In order to make such a cluster happen, the Japanese government should support cities where incubator functions for the content industry already exist. As such, policy studies on other content industry clusters in the U.S. and in-depth studies on the current conditions of the Japanese content industry are necessary.

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