Paul Owens is an internationally recognised expert on culture and the creative industries. He is co-founder and Managing Director of BOP Consulting, one of the UK’s leading consultancies in the field. Paul’s career spans twenty-five years in the fields of urban, economic and cultural development, working for private companies, NGOs and government agencies. With his colleagues at BOP, he has pioneered new ways of understanding the cultural and creative economies of cities and regions and helped to design new policies and support structures to foster culture, creativity and design. Recent and current clients include UNESCO, the European Commission, UK Department for Culture, UK Design Council and UK National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts.

Paul is also Director of the World Cities Culture Report, a major new policy initiative launched by the Mayor of London in 2012 and involving New York, Paris, Shanghai, Tokyo, Istanbul, Sao Paulo, Johannesburg, Berlin, Singapore, Sydney and Mumbai.

Working with Yorkie Investment Company, he is advising clients in People’s Republic of China. BOP is currently advising the Taipei Design City Expo and working the Taiwan Ministry of Culture on a major new cultural policy programme. BOP also has clients in Brazil, Germany and Turkey.

Paul’s publications include:

The World Cities Culture Report (Mayor of London 2012)

Design Innovation and Foresight (IDEX 2009)

Creating Growth: Creative Industries in the UK (NESTA 2006)