Europe INNOVA - Partnerships for better innovation support

Brussels, 9 September 2010, 14:00-17:45

This session will present the approach and structure of the planned initiative for establishing a “European Creative Industry Alliance”. The session will, in particular, discuss how interested parties may benefit from it, so this is THE opportunity to have your say! Your questions and feedback will be important in view of finalising the proposal for this initiative by the European Commission’s Enterprise and Industry Directorate-General.

The information session is organised adjacent to the Seminar "Creativity, Culture and Innovation: Looking for new links" organised in the framework of the Belgian EU Presidency, which starts on 8 September and ends at lunchtime on 9 September.

The recent European Commission Green Paper on “Unlocking the potential of cultural and creative industries” announced that, as part of the "Innovation Union" flagship initiative, specific actions will be undertaken to strengthen the role of cultural and creative industries as a catalyst for innovation and structural change. In this context, the proposed “European Creative Industries Alliance” will aim to bring the main actors at regional, national and European levels together to make more strategic use of current and planned initiatives in support of creative industries and to enhance transnational cooperation. Special  attention will be paid to promoting entrepreneurship, access to finance, improving framework conditions and foresight, identifying skills needs, developing new cluster concepts and better business and innovation support services as well as how to foster spill-overs to other industries.

The proposal for this new initiative builds upon the recommendations of the Amsterdam Declaration adopted by stakeholders during an expert workshop in February.

Interested stakeholders are invited to register for the information session by 3 September, at the latest. Please note that only registered participants will have access to the venue.

To download the programme, click here
To register for the event, click here
More background information at: http://www.europe-innova.eu/creative-industries
Contact: Mr. Carsten Schierenbeck
 

The 3rd Europe INNOVA Conference “Reshaping Europe: Addressing Societal Challenges through Entrepreneurship and Innovation” will focus on the Europe 2020 policy priorities of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth and reflect on how innovation can support the transition towards a resource efficient and competitive economy, in three key areas: unlocking Europe’s creative potential, greening industries and supporting innovative entrepreneurship. These themes will be addressed by high-level keynote speakers, in roundtable debates, and discussed by the conference participants themselves in two rounds of parallel workshop sessions.

Conference participants will also have the opportunity to see for themselves how these issues are being addressed on the ground in Wallonia: In the afternoon of 27 October, three parallel Innovation Tours will be organised to give conference participants the chance to take a closer look at some of Wallonia’s most dynamic companies and clusters:

• One Innovation Tour will go to the TWIST cluster that supports the development of, and collaboration between enterprises working with digital manipulation of images, sound and text.
• Skywin, the Walloon aerospace cluster is the destination of another Innovation Tour. The cluster currently regroups some 100 regional actors (companies, universities and research centres) that develop high-tech products for aeronautics, space applications and related services.
• The third Innovation Tour is to the MecaTech cluster which is the technological focal point of the Walloon Mechanical Engineering industry. It seeks to facilitate the creation of new synergies to improve the capacities of companies, increase investments in industrial projects, and support the development of highly qualified personnel.

Also, the Conference Exhibition open throughout 28 and 29 October will showcase the ongoing work of Europe INNOVA partnerships to develop and test new innovation support services for SMEs and it will also feature the activities of the Region of Wallonia in support of innovation and creativity. The exhibition will also be the meeting place for informal discussions and networking.
Don’t forget to register for the Conference – including the Innovation Tours which have limited capacity and will be filled on a first-come first-serve basis.

All information about the Conference, including registration and hotel reservation, is available at: www.europe-innova.eu/liege2010


 

 

At the invitation of the European Centre for Creative Economy (ECCE) representatives from DG Enterprise & Industry visited the Ruhrgebiet to discuss the role of creative industries in reshaping the economy. Fritz Pleitgen, the chief coordinator of the RUHR-2010 Initiative, highlighted the importance of culture as a catalyst for economic change. “Since we became the Cultural Capital of Europe, we feel much more as one region in the Ruhrgebiet”, Mr Pleitgen said. “We need more positive images that communicate Europe’s creative potential to the rest of the world but also more political commitment to shape our future economies based on our cultural strengths”, he added. U Dortmund is such a cultural lighthouse project in the Ruhrgebiet that shall change the image of the region and stimulate urban development. Adolf Winkelmann, a prestigious German filmmaker who is responsible for three innovative film installations at this new centre for art and creativity that will open its doors in October 2010, said that “U Dortmund is for this city what the Eiffel Tower is for Paris.” He is confident that this new centre will attract interest far beyond Dortmund and stimulate the development of creative industries in the city.

The visit also offered the possibility to discuss with regional initiatives and projects the role creative industries could play to rejuvenate the Ruhrgebiet. The Zeche Zollverein was mentioned as a positive example developing new competences in the field of creativity and bringing them under the slogan “Creative industries – Made by Design” also to traditional industries. The main idea is to map creative professions in the city and to bring them together with local enterprises from other business sectors. In this context, Vito Orazem from the Red Dot Design Centre in Essen stated that there was strong empirical evidence of the economic benefits of design. “Companies using design in a strategic manner are more innovative and also more profitable than others”, he said. He offered the Commission’s representatives a book “The Design Value” that resulted from the former PRO INNO Europe® project ADMIRE.

Mette Quinn from DG Enterprise & Industry encouraged the creative industries initiatives in the Ruhrgebiet to participate actively in the forthcoming “European Creative Industries Alliance” that will bring together the most interested regions and stakeholders in support of creative industries in Europe. “We are not necessarily looking for the strongest regions in creative industries as our partners in this initiative but for those who believe strongest in creative industries as our economic future”, she said.

According to Mr Pleitgen, the Ruhrgebiet suffers from an ageing population and a lack of attractiveness for young people. Bringing the “Love Parade” from Berlin to the Ruhrgebiet was considered an important step towards rejuvenating the region. “Nobody could have imagined, at this stage, the fatal accident that happened last Saturday and I sincerely hope that this tragic event will not put into question the role of culture in changing the image of the Ruhrgebiet”, says Reinhard Büscher from DG Enterprise and Industry.