Vision, passion and action: Key ingredients of a successful large-scale demonstrator
On 8-9 December, DG Enterprise and Industry organised an expert workshop in Copenhagen in cooperation with the Danish Center for Culture and Experience Economy to discuss and better define the concept of large-scale demonstrators as a tool for modern industrial policy and to assess its role and potential contribution to addressing societal challenges and facilitating regional wealth creation and economic growth.
During the workshop, some 45 experts and practitioners from throughout Europe reviewed good practice large-scale demonstrator examples in the areas of creative industries, mobile services and the experience economy through the “triple A” perspective of analysis - what is the potential economic importance of this industry, which actors should be involved and what are their roles, and which activities should be supported and developed.
In his welcome address, the Danish Minister for Business and Growth, Mr Ole Sohn, said that the upcoming Danish EU Presidency would focus on creating economic growth but the immediate challenges facing Europe “must not dilute the efforts having long-term impacts and the experience economy is a fundamental part of my Government’s strategy to get the Danish and European economy back on a healthy growth track”. He also reminded the participants of the African proverb “If you want to walk fast, walk alone. If you want to walk far, walk together” and emphasized that “we must work closely together across the EU in order to be successful”.
Further insights into the Danish position on innovation were provided by Thomas Alslev Christensen from the Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation, Finn Lauritzen, Director of the Danish Enterprise and Construction Authority and Rasmus Wiinstedt Tscherning from the Center for Culture and Experience Economy.
All speakers stressed the importance of investing more into research and innovation, which was however not considered as sufficient to create new competitive advantages for global competition.
The “Danish way” to innovation is very much characterised by capitalising on all forms of creativity, including design, and shaping new business opportunities through networking among professionals from different sectors. In this respect, the audience was reminded that 12% of the Danish GDP could be attributed to the experience economy, which is at the crossroad between creative industries, fashion and tourism.
The large-scale demonstrator examples and the lively discussions highlighted the transformative power of innovation” and how creativity can be captured to offer experiences that make people leave home, but they also showed that it requires someone with a vision or ambition to take the lead to bring the right people around the table who have the courage to make difficult choices in order to map out a winning strategy. This was illustrated by the mayor of Obidos in Portugal, Mr Telmo Faria, who said “I believe in knowledge, those who have knowledge will survive even if we don’t know what the future will bring. But politicians don’t pay attention to creative thinkers or entrepreneurs, they don’t talk to people”.
Many speakers referred to the fact that it is often difficult “to see the forest for the trees” when you’re part of “the problem” so there was general agreement that more should be invested in identifying the problem or vision and also that outside peer review should be an integral part of the process: As expressed by Jörgen Stenberg, an automotive testing entrepreneur from Northern Sweden: “Lapland needs more Germans” – not only as tourists but as new settlers because they view the landscape with the eyes of a tourist and see opportunities and added value in things the indigenous population just takes for granted.
In his closing remarks, Reinhard Büscher of DG Enterprise and Industry reflected that the workshop would help change the mindset towards not only doing the right things but also doing things right or differently by changing the way we work. It had made the large-scale demonstrator storyline more robust showing the advantages of a systemic approach based on resilient eco-systems and betting not on good or better practice but on “next practice”.
The workshop presentations are available here.
To download the programme, please click here.
