Beyond agenda-setting: embedding creative entrepreneurship in higher education as a basis for national policy in Kazakhstan

Abstract The growth of the creative economy has become a strategic priority for post-Soviet economies, and yet policy systems in Kazakhstan are still disparate and uninstitutionalized. International activity such as the Creative Spark program (2018–2023), a UK-led initiative to enhance the creative economy across Central Asia and the South Caucasus, played its role in national policy through agenda-setting and capacity building in higher education. This research seeks to assess the facilitation role of the program on the evolution of creative industry policy in Kazakhstan, through the embeddement of creative entrepreneurship in higher education as the prerequisite for effective policy-making aiming to recommend an institutional framework that ensures sustainable government support grounded in educational practices. The research employs a descriptive statistics combined with qualitative document analysis, industry strategies, as well as evidence evaluation of the Creative Spark program to demonstrate how educational initiatives have created a knowledge base that influence policy discussions. Using Endogenous Growth Theory, Institutional Economics and the Creative Trident Model as a conceptual frameworks, the study explains the gap between innovation and strategy. In response, the paper presents a policy framework used as an adaptation of the McKinsey 7S model to institutionalize public support for the creative economy.