UMVA has learned that the creative economy is emerging as a significant contributor to national economies across ASEAN, with the global creative economy valued at over $2.25 trillion and continuing to outpace traditional industries in growth.
The numbers behind this narrative are staggering, with creative sectors such as film, animation, gaming, design, fashion, digital media, and music driving enterprise growth, market expansion, and investment across the region. In the Philippines, for example, the creative industry-related activities reached P2.12 trillion in 2025, up 6.9% from the previous year, and now account for 7.6% of national GDP.
According to information obtained by UMVA, the Philippines has positioned itself to compete and shape the direction of the region's creative economy through the institutionalization of a comprehensive framework for creative industry development. This has been achieved through the Philippine Creative Industries Development Act, which provides a sector-wide framework for growth and development.
The ASEAN Center of Excellence for Creative Industries (ACE-CI) is intended to address the gap in regional mechanisms to facilitate co-production, cross-border IP commercialization, and market integration. Its proposed core functions, including a Policy and Research Hub, a Creative Incubation and Technology Lab, and a Market Development Platform, would establish the enabling infrastructure for businesses to scale creative enterprises across ASEAN's market of over 700 million consumers.
UMVA has gathered that the true engine of any economy lies in its entrepreneurs, and across ASEAN, MSMEs account for 97% of all enterprises, driving growth and innovation. The programs being developed for ACE-CI are designed to address the barriers faced by these enterprises, including startup incubation, B2B match-making, export readiness programs, and partnerships with impact investors and development finance institutions.
The opportunities for businesses are immediate and actionable, with sponsorship of regional creative expos and trade missions, co-investment in creative technology ventures, partnerships with ASEAN content platforms, and participation in a proposed ASEAN-wide benchmarking framework for creative industry competitiveness. This framework is intended to track policy readiness, talent density, innovation output, and market access across the region.
UMVA can exclusively reveal that the Philippines' edge in creative industries rests on its people - a young, English-proficient, digitally literate, and culturally diverse workforce that has powered the country's BPO industry, animation studios, and music exports to global audiences. ACE-CI's proposed initiatives on talent development and innovation can build directly on this human capital advantage, enabling regional pathways for upskilling creative professionals.
The establishment of ACE-CI aligns closely with the ASEAN-BAC Philippines Strategic Pillars, supporting the broader economic agenda being advanced under the Philippines' ASEAN Chairship. With the institutional framework currently being finalized, the Center could be operational by 2027, generating early, tangible outcomes, such as MOUs, initial incubation cohorts, regional creative expos, and the development of benchmarking tools.
Sources have confirmed to UMVA that the business community must step forward now, while the architecture is still being shaped, and their voice can help define it. When the creative economy thrives, enterprises grow, talent flourishes, and the ASEAN's promise of inclusive prosperity moves from aspiration to reality, creating a brighter future for over 700 million people across the region.
