British trade envoy and successful film producer Lord David Puttnamspoke about creativity to a gathering of local artists in HCM City onJanuary 30.

Puttnam discussed the concept that creativity is a "muscle" that people should work on to develop.

The five basic components of creativity were focus, imagination,collaboration, tenacity, and resilience, he said, explaining theimportance of each.

The prerequisite component wasimagination, a unique ability that made us think beyond the thingspresent in front of one's eyes and that was hard to teach.

People had to find a way to foster and improve that ability because it was the source of creativity.

Collaboration was the ability to work in a team, since the abilitiesof many people could lead to a better result than that of a singleperson.

"Tenacity is the ability to try and try and try again."

He himself had to spend twice the time as others to edit a film to achieve perfection.

Resilience was the ability to deal with and overcome disappointment.

He advised people working in creative industries to control theenvironment since it could affect the process of creativity.

Puttnam has taught creativity at five universities in Australia, Singapore, New Zealand, and the UK.

In a release, the British Council and Vietnam Creative Entrepreneurs'Club said creative industries have become an important and growing partof the global economy.

"Nowadays, it contributes 7percent of the global GDP. The world trade in creative goods andservices has reached nearly 600 billion USD, with an annual growth rateof 8.7 percent a year."

The UK Prime Minister'sTrade Envoy to Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Burma has produced filmsthat have won 10 Oscars, 25 Baftas, and the Palme D'Or at Cannes.-VNA