Interreg IVB North Sea Region Programme (2007-2013) -

Summary

CCC aims to build and implement an integrated evidence-based strategy for cities to strengthen their innovative capacity. This will be done by means of a methodology of joint development and pilot testing of new tools and instruments in the fields of skills development, business cooperation and the development of urban creative clusters. CCC focuses on the catalyst role of creative industries in building and strengthening the innovative capacity of these urban economies through the use of a transnational triple helix of government, education and business.

Project outcomes include instruments for skills development for entrepreneurs, masters’ classes and a network for NSR business cooperation. Urban showcases will demonstrate instruments on how to establish creative clusters.

CCC is also represented in the DANS Cluster.

Duration

01/09/2009 - 31/08/2012

Priority

1 - Building on our Capacity for Innovation

Area of Intervention

1.3 Building society`s and the institutional capacity for innovation

ERDF Grant

2,074,974.00 €

Total Eligible Budget

4,149,974.00 €

Lead Beneficiary

Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Germany
Walter Leal
walter.leal@haw-hamburg.de
Tel: +49 40 42875 6313

Project Homepage

www.creative-city-challenge.net/en.html

Beneficiaries per Country

Germany

Hamburg University of Applied Sciences

Bremer Investitions-Gesellschaft mbH

Stadt Oldenburg

Kulturetage gGmbH

The Netherlands

Gemeente Groningen

Delft University of Technology

Belgium

Intercommunale Leiedal

HOWEST University College

DESIGNREGIO KORTRIJK

Denmark

Hoje-Taastrup Kommune

United Kingdom

Dundee College

Newcastle City Council

Sweden

TILLT Culture & Working Life in West Sweden

Background and Aim

Aims
This project aims to build and implement an integrated strategy for cities to strengthen their innovative capacity by means of a methodology of pilot projects developed and carried out by cities throughout the NSR. These pilot projects will take the triple helix of ‘organisational capacity' of government, educational institutions and private businesses as a starting point, thus contributing to a strong programme of transnational interchange of learning, materials and best practice. This project will provide not only a long-sought contribution towards enhancing Europe's capability to pursue creativity and innovation, but also allow the North Sea Region to fully realise its potential.

Background
Innovation is recognized as a key driver of the economic performance of cities/ city-regions in the current post-industrial economy. To enhance their innovative capacity, many NSR cities strive to place the ‘creative city' concept on their policy agenda. Still lacking though is an integrated evidence-based strategy for cities to strengthen their innovative capacity that also explicitly takes into account the interactions between these local policies and the goals set in Lisbon and Gothenburg.

Expected Outcomes

Tested tools and learning material to develop entrepreneurial skills in the creative sector: master classes, e-learning , mentoring network
NSR business network, business contact points, new cooperation instruments to support linkages within and outside the creative sector
Instruments to (re)shape urban zones resulting into urban show cases of creative clusters
Toolkit containing best practises and recommendations for instruments deriving from all work packages

April - September 2010

CCC continued to implement various project activities which aim to strengthen the creative industries in all partner regions. For example, the INNOWIZ platform is continually evolving as a free online platform where anybody can learn about creativity & design methodology and creativity tools. The platform helps making creativity tangible and accessible for companies and entrepreneurs.

The launch of the 'Creative boost' pilot course brought many innovative ideas and approaches to the development of enterprise and entrepreneurship skills to creative industry professionals and will be freely available as part of the project deliverables.

One example of fostering innovative and creative collaboration in a transnational way is the development of the BEST COLLABORATION AWARD. The project received 16 contributions on new and creative collaborations from six countries, of which five were selected by an international jury. The award ceremony took place in Kortrijk in October 2010 during the international conference "Fostering Creativity within Cities playtime is over".

October 2009 - March 2010

During the initial period of the project, Creative City Challenge has already been awarded as a pilot project in the context of the European Year of Creativity and Innovation (EYCI). This recognizes that, in order to be sustainable, innovation requires wider and transnational collaboration. Further information is available at http://www.creative-city-challenge.net/da/news/59-award-to-interreg-ivb-north-sea-project.html.

Within the work packages, several local pilots have been initiated and partners have delivered input to a best practice guide that was published in the format of a brochure and identifies successful tools to support linkages and cooperation within creative industries and with traditional industries.

All project partners contributed with regional data input to the SWOT analysis that will discover the current state of the creative sector in all partner regions. Concepts for future activities have been developed (e.g. the NSR creativity award for best practice) and the implementation of these activities has been initiated.

The project website (www.creative-city.challenge.net) has been designed and launched.