The aim of this graduate thesis is to explain the concepts of cultural and creative industries, to present the Croatian Cluster of Competitiveness of Cultural and Creative Industries, and to analyze business entities that are gathered in the subsectors of this cluster. The purpose of this paper is to determine the potential and performance of the above mentioned industries and business entities in the Republic of Croatia. Today's economy is unthinkable without cultural and creative industries which are characterised by intellectual property. It is precisely these industries that unlock a great potential for economic growth and job creation. In addition, they are extremely resistant and grow even during economic difficulties and researchers propose them as a leverage for the development of their own and related sectors. Today there are 13 Croatian Clusters of Competitiveness. Among them is the Croatian Cluster of Competitiveness of Creative and Cultural Industries (HKKKKI). Its mission is to strengthen the competitiveness of the creative and cultural industries in order to promote smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, creating the image of the Republic of Croatia as a creative country with rich cultural heritage and tradition. This cluster is made up of 12 subsectors. They are architecture, audio visual art, heritage, design, music, performing arts, books and publishing, media, advertising and market communications, applied arts, computer games and new media, visual arts. In this thesis one business entity from each of these subsectors has been selected and analyzed in detail. In the final parts of the thesis, reasons why creative and cultural industries should be observed as a flywheel of the economy, which empowers other sectors and develop competitiveness which contributes to economic growth.