Young creative people and entrepreneurs in Nigeria stand the chance of winning prizes, in a series of competition recently unveiled by theideaworks, a design and strategy firm based in Delhi. Called ‘INDIAFRICA: A Shared Future’, the initiative comprises an online contest and a young visionaries segment for young entrepreneurs in India and Africa.

When I hear from people about the relative advantages of cultural diplomacy, they often point to the apparent “neutrality” or “apolitical” basis of, say, cultural exchange. Coming from an anthropological background, this often advanced claim has always puzzled me.

This has been the study tour of follow up questions, so why not writing a follow up post? After hypothesizing about the role that governmental action might have played in the Korean creative brand, why not comment on what we learnt about their future plans?

The successes chalked up by Lung transformed Taipei into a world-class city of culture, explaining why she is tipped to repeat this feat on a national scale and take Taiwan’s soft power to the next level.

With Taiwan’s visibility around the world sometimes limited due to its special relationship with mainland China, making good use of its soft power, particularly in the cultural and creative sector, is crucial to increasing the country’s exposure and influence.