The creative industry in the world economy is in the process of institutionalization and its social and economic importance to local and national economies is continuously growing. Globalization and digitalization have contributed to the development of a creative industry for which many analysts and researchers see resilience to crises. The aim of the thesis research is to explore the potential of the creative industry in the European Union and the Republic of Croatia, where the creative industry is one of the fastest growing industries and accounts for a growing share of GDP. The paper identifies and explains the key models of the creative industry, the sectoral division and new terms and models created by the development of the creative industry. At the national, European, but also at the global level, a uniform way of organizing the creative industry has not been adopted, which makes it difficult to measure, compare and monitor its development. In Croatia, in 2015, the division of the creative industry into 12 sectors of creative and cultural was proposed. In addition to the set theoretical framework of the creative industry, description of models and monitoring methods, the practical part of the paper presents secondary data related to the creative industry. In addition to national, European and world sources of secondary data from the creative industry, examples of best practice in the Republic of Croatia have been singled out. The creative industry is an industry of innovation, projects and potentials, and the use of the latter is key to its successful understanding, popularization and development. The paper identifies areas that need to be regulated by law, guidelines for its cross-sectoral cooperation as well as innovative examples of successfully implemented projects within the creative industry.