DUBAI: The Mohammed bin Rashid School of Government launched the 2026 edition of the Arab Cities Culture and Creative Industries Index on Wednesday.

Building on UNESCO’s frameworks to quantify the contributions that culture and creativity make to urban development in the Arab region, the index is the first regionally grounded and evidence-based framework.

Ernesto Ottone Ramirez, UNESCO’s assistant director-general for culture; Hala Badri, director-general of Dubai Culture; and Ali Al-Marri, MBRSG’s executive president, attended a special panel at the World Governments Summit in Dubai, during which the index was announced.

Welcoming the launch of the Index, Ramirez said: “It strengthens the evidence base on culture and creative industries in the Arab region, providing reliable, comparable, and policy-relevant figures.

“Such data is essential to guide public investment, inform decision-making, support inclusive cultural policies, and monitor culture’s contribution to sustainable development.”

The launch marks a definitive transition from ambition-led strategies to data-informed cultural policymaking, according to Al-Marri, who said: “By positioning culture as a core component of governance and a productive economic sector with measurable impact, we provide Arab cities with the tools to benchmark their creative ecosystems against global standards while respecting our unique regional context.”

According to a media release, the index is planned as an advanced policy-enabling tool designed to position culture and creative industries as core components of future governance models, marking a significant paradigm shift in which culture is recognized not merely as a social asset but as a strategic pillar of economic resilience, innovation, and inclusive growth.

Badri emphasized that the launch of the index represents an important step in highlighting culture’s role in advancing societies and positioning the cultural and creative industries as key contributors to the emirate’s knowledge- and innovation-driven economy.