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Opinion: Pochentong: Catalyst for Creative Economy
- Apr 28
- 6 min read
Research Fellow
Future Forum's research fellow Ses Aronsakda was published in Cambodianess on April 28th, 2026. Check out the original article HERE, and read it below!
In the early morning rain, Nara sets out from his home. He is a tech student at Pochentong’s Creative and Innovation Center, formerly Pochentong Airport's passenger terminal building.
In the past he would be worried about the weather – needing to brave heavy rain or the blistering sun to commute. Now, however, he comfortably takes the shuttle bus that connects residential complexes to multiple destinations in Pochentong district.
After finishing his morning class and assignments, he walks to the food and beverage adjacent to the Creative and Innovation Center to grab lunch. A cafeteria, cafes, small shops and food vendor stalls are nestled neatly into a shaded landscape designed to mimic the function of a wetland.
This whole area used to be a parking lot, Nara remembers vaguely. Before moving to Phnom Penh to attend school, he had only been to the former airport a few times to wait for the arrival of family members. The area was transformed from a sea of asphalt into an enjoyable space for breaks and lunch for students, tech workers, makers, artists and entrepreneurs.
In the afternoon he makes his way to the creative and tech hub south of the VIP terminal, where he interns for a start-up. The massive floor space of the aircraft hangar and freight facilities was renovated into makerspaces, artist studios, and tech prototyping areas. Along with other facilities such as a library, digital center, co-working spaces and maker facilities dotted throughout the former airport building, they form the backbone of the Creative and Innovation Center.
Finishing work in the evening, he made it back to the local community market to casually browse the local vendor stalls for a quick meal. This market is also a repurposed structure, converted from the northern ground handling facilities. Surrounding it, planners built a walkable neighborhood with hundreds of affordable housing units.
In one of these units, Nara is returning home for a well-earned rest, feeling fortunate to live and work in a well-planned district that prioritizes liveability.
Nara’s hypothetical life emphasizes the advantages and synergies of adding affordable residential and commercial spaces and greenspace, as well as creative and innovative facilities, to the Pochentong district. A district reimagined from the ground up for residents to live, work and study in one liveable locale.
A Hub for Creativity and Innovation
By focusing on a creative, innovative centerpiece of the transformation, Pochentong Airport can be a space that combines creative activity, makers and entrepreneurs – a foreseeable catalyst of Cambodia’s future economy.
Currently, spaces for technology innovators, startups, artists and makers are separated across Phnom Penh. Not only is it inconvenient, it also splits limited resources between locations and isolates professionals and students.
However, experience has shown that these activities naturally synergize when placed in close proximity by maximizing collaborations, creativity, knowledge sharing and speeding up productivity.
Pochentong Innovation District stands to boost Phnom Penh’s effort to nurture, drive and expand its technology, manufacturing, and creative sector. To achieve this outcome requires the adoption of a clear legal framework, the creation of social enterprises for operations, the enactment of sustainable financing options and partnerships.
Firstly, similar to the public trust model of affordable housing, the government, being the trustor, can put existing aviation facilities slated to be the Creative and Innovation Center into the care of a trustee, which consists of a board with relevant ministries, government agencies and institutions, universities, and representatives of the private sector.
In this case, the beneficiary, which will be responsible for managing and operating the repurposed facilities, should be the Creative & Innovation Center, established as a public social enterprise.
The social enterprise will consist of an executive board with universities, NGOs, private companies and relevant public institutions.
Financial Sustainability
Financing the operation of the Creative & Innovation Center sustainably will be challenging, thus enacting prudent and flexible strategies to generate a sustainable income is crucial.
The initial investment will be made by the government. Rather than spread high-tech equipment and experienced technicians thinly among numerous universities, government-backed startups, and technical institutes, resources should be concentrated into one location.
The centralization of resources will also entice skilled workers, hobbyists and students alike into the same space where they can maximize learning from each other, generating synergy and fostering innovation.
To generate a steady income, the center will rent space to individuals, startups, and private companies. Being a more attractive office park, companies can take advantage of the facilities, equipment, and availability of skilled technicians in close proximity.
For instance, local and international companies may open corporate branch offices by renting office space and technical facilities. To further boost income, exhibition spaces, meeting rooms and other facilities should be rented to host lucrative short-term events such as workshops, seminars, exhibitions, film screenings, product launches and other events.
Additionally, private universities and technical institutions with a concentration on technology, design, or creativity may establish campus branches at the center to improve accessibility to advanced facilities for their staff and students.
Moreover, sponsorship from local firms, especially those in the design, technology, and manufacturing sectors, could be sought to support the center for joint research and development. While grants from public sources such as the National Research Fund (NRF) and private foundations could also be utilized.
Lastly, the center should offer technical, design, and creative training courses, design and research partnerships, and consultancy services to interested parties. Thus, public and private entities may, for example, subcontract the center to offer advanced TVET courses, while even individuals may enrol to upgrade skills.
Blending Progress with History
Pochentong’s passenger terminal building, control tower, and VIP pavilion are of historical significance. Even utilitarian structures such as ground handling facilities, aircraft hangars, and freight facilities are valuable if suitably repurposed. Hence, all existing buildings should be adaptively reused for suitable functions.
The passenger terminal should serve as the primary site for the Creative and Innovative Center. Serving as the hub for makers, entrepreneurs, and artists while also being the main entry point for visitors.
Originally designed to cope with a larger flow of people, the passenger terminal is uniquely suited to modify portions of its space into a theater, a training hub for performance arts and exhibition space. A section of the terminal should be utilized for the new National Library, serving as the central learning and knowledge-sharing hub.
Smaller spaces, on the other hand, can be transformed into a digital technology hub containing computer labs, 3D modeling, coding centers and a digital database. Moreover, adding ancillary spaces like material archives, and co-working spaces to support entrepreneurship by serving as incubators and accelerators for new businesses dovetails with the creative and digital innovation aspects.
Having borne witness to more than seven decades of history, the oldest and most historically significant portion of the terminal and the control tower are the most appropriate location for a museum to preserve the memories of the Sangkum era, fusing it with the landscape and striking architectural features of the VIP pavilion, which has welcomed world leaders through Cambodia's independence, its most tumultuous years, and its recovery.
North of the terminal, the expansive space of aircraft hangars is suitable for repurposing into artist studios, galleries, publishing houses, and a film and photography school.
The neighboring air freight warehouses can be adapted into a makerspace that supports traditional art and craft with metalworking and woodworking workshops. With complementing facilities for electronics, 3D printing, CNC and robotics that can turn design ideas into products.
By placing interrelated functions into a single site, it ensures close proximity for collaboration, knowledge sharing, and efficient use of resources and equipment. More significantly, time is saved, while expenses and the environmental effect are reduced through the adaptive reuse of existing buildings, facilities and other infrastructure.
Phnom Penh’s future prosperity depends on deep collaboration between makers, artists and entrepreneurs.
By following the above recommendations, Pochentong district will be the heart of Cambodia’s creative and innovation sector by supporting hands-on learning, bolstering design and research, and facilitating practical experience for creativity, technology, and entrepreneurship – all of which are essential skills for a competitive regional economy.
From a practical standpoint, it will promote jobs, train young talent, facilitate innovation, attract investment, drive cultural capital, bolster productivity, and encourage inner-city living. These are benefits Phnom Penh cannot afford not to capitalize on.
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