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.
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
October 2010 - March 2011
CCC continued its capacity building programme by producing relevant study materials which are available on the website: www.creativeboost.org and by organizing various seminars and workshops for creative entrepreneurs. Pilots of live-work environments in The Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark and Germany to foster creativity and innovation in the partner regions have been further developed.
The NSR-Connect: A linking and business cooperation network has been established in connection with the Enterprise Europe Network to bring together services, products and technologies of the creative industries from the North Sea Region. A network of contact points in the partner countries has been set up that actively arranges transnational linkages to support creative business cooperation.
Regional coaching workshops were organized to develop cooperation between the cultural sector and the public / business sector based on the AIRIS methodology, in which an artist collaborates with the traditional business sector or public organisation for 8-12 months. The artist is invited to the work place to introduce disruptive thinking, stimulate creative development and a positive work atmosphere.
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.
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