That is the conclusion of a major new study from the innovation body NESTA whose recent report - The Geography of Creativity in the UK - creative cluster, creative people and creative networks - shows that the annual contribution of the sector to UK national prosperity is now £81.4bn which equates to 5% of the whole economy.
The sector include advertising and marketing, film, TV, video, radio and photography, games and digital media as well as music, performing and visual arts.
And it has grown by 9%, almost twice as fast as the UK economy as a whole and outstripping many other industries across the country.
In terms of where creative industries are important, the NESTA research has identified 47 so-called ‘creative clusters’ across the UK, with only one in Wales which is based around Cardiff.
Not surprisingly, London and the South East of England still dominate the sector having around a third of all the significant all the creative clusters in the UK.
In fact, London alone accounts for four in ten UK creative industry employees and around 30% of all creative businesses, although significant clusters are also found in the North of England, Scotland as well as individual cities such as Bristol and Brighton.
Whilst rapid growth has been experienced in many parts of the creative industries, it is worth noting that key sectors such as design, software and digital and advertising. are having the biggest economic impact.
Most of this is being driven by new entrepreneurs entering the sector with a large increase in the number of businesses in many creative clusters.
However, perhaps the worrying aspect of this is that whilst the numbers of new firms are growing, the numbers of those they employ on average has fallen by 15% over the period 2007-2014.
This suggests whilst the low barriers to entry within the creative industries sector benefits small and flexible creative businesses, they also face a number of challenges including lack of visibility, difficulties in accessing finance and in workforce training.
This is compounded by weaknesses in many clusters, including a relative scarcity of talent, relevant research and knowledge exchange, and low levels of local networking which can fail to stimulate further business growth in the sector.
Policymakers therefore need to think harder on how to support those new creative businesses with the highest potential to grow further as well as making the most of those smaller firms that, whilst not expanding quickly, make a real contribution to the sector in many localities.
That is what I have experienced in Bristol where in addition to the BBC and global firms such as Aardman, there is a strong cluster of freelancers and micro-businesses that are key to the success of the creative industries in this fast growing city.
In Wales, there is certainly growing optimism that the sector will be supported further given that in the run-up to the last Welsh Assembly elections, the Labour Party made a commitment in its manifesto to establish ‘Creative Wales’.
This wholly owned Welsh Government subsidiary will be given its own budget and freedom to grow the creative industries in Wales, albeit with a target to establish 100 new creative businesses by 2020 alongside 4,000 new jobs.
Although nothing has happened yet in terms of establishing this organisation, it will be a major policy move for Wales to have such a body operating quickly given the growing importance of the sector.
Indeed, the amazing potential for this sector was recently demonstrated by the fact that the largest number of entries for the Wales Start-Up awards was in the creative and digital category, with some incredibly innovative entrepreneurs setting up and growing their firms here in Wales.
However, if Creative Wales is established then as the NESTA report points out, it needs to ensure, as has happened in other creative clusters around the UK, that full advantage is also taken of the opportunities emerging from our universities to create new firms and jobs across the whole of Wales.
The creation of Creative Cardiff, the new S4C Hub at the University of Wales Trinity St David in Carmarthen and the Pontio development in Bangor are certainly steps in the right direction.
However, more needs to be done to ensure that the talent emerging from all of our higher education institutions is fully realised and supported to grow the creative industries across all parts of Wales.