The conference focused on people, demonstrating how creativity and innovation matter in their everyday life and how they are linked to societal priorities and concerns of the Europe of the future.

Ján Figel', European Commissioner for education, culture, training and youth, opened the conference by reminding to the audience that "creativity and innovation can become drivers for a more cohesive regional policy". He underlined the strong support of the European regions and of the Committee of the Regions to the European Year 2009, from its incipient phase. "There are only talented people around us. It is our role to create the best conditions in which they can develop their talent" he concluded.

Luc Van den Brande, president of the Committe of the Regions, stressed in his opening speech that creativity and innovation and intercultural dialogue are " two sides of the same coin". In a context in which "people themselves have to deliver creativity and innovation, multidimensional and intercultural partnerships bring value to all society", he explained. "Proximity matters" he continued, stressing the role of cities and regions in stimulating creativity and innovation in Europe, for example through collaboration between policy fields and institutions, through financing most of cultural services and creative industries, but also through exchange and networking between cities and regions themselves.

The three themes chosen to exemplify this approach were employment, wellbeing and education. Clear linkages between all three were brought forward by speakers and participants, coming from diverse backgrounds- from universities to healthcare providers, from business innovation centres to schools, academia and governmental offices. The conference highlighted the mutual dependence between the three themes and the need for holistic approaches.

Every theme was presented during two workshops by experts in the subject and illustrated by means of a selected number of cases of good practice.

Here are some of the key messages for each theme:

employment:

• “Branding” can be used not just to present an image of a region to the outside world, but also to foster a sense of local pride (self-fulfilling positive image)
• Governments should ensure money flows back into business at the local/regional level
• Regions / cities should build on local strengths, but consider also how apparent disadvantages like disused buildings can be turned to advantage for creating affordable workshop space and incubator clusters
• Regions / cities should Create an ecosystem: avoid “monocultural” clustering: include support services and cafés or other shared spaces in incubators to facilitate unforeseen interdisciplinary encounters
• Develop an infrastructure for a modern economy and help firms keep abreast of technological developments
• A mix of public and private funding probably works best: the return on investment in creativity may not be direct, and people must be left room to develop in not-programmable ways
• Ensure that people have the skills and motivation to participate actively in a rapidly changing business and social environment
• Media literacy should include learning the “grammar” of audio-visual production (active media literacy), and requires continuing training for teachers – best developed through project work as timetable of classes is too rigid
• The Commission should support innovative SMEs with cross-border secondments and facilitate cross-border venture capital funding
• The Commission should link up “demonstrators” [leading innovators] to bounce ideas across Europe

education:

• Learning environments as well as the content of learning (curriculum) and the evaluation of the learning outcomes should be designed envisaging the development of creative skills for all. Education does not happen only in the formal school settings – open learning environments, partnerships between schools and other organisations are essential
• Committed teachers – who model behaviours - are key in the learning process, their training and continuous professional development should be designed accordingly
• It is beneficial if not only teachers, but parents as well as other professionals, artists, designers, etc. facilitate the learning process
• Investment and the efficient restructuring of current investments into education are essential as well as having flexible legal conditions to ensure quality, recognise non-formal and informal learning, etc
• The best education builds upon local needs and local resources
• Practicioners should be in an ongoing dialogue with policy makers in order to enable the development of ‘spaces’ and ‘content’ that accomodate creativity and innovation. The permanent ‘tension’ for innovation should be ensured at institutional level.

wellbeing:

• Cross-sector and stakeholder networking is key for health and wellbeing innovation, in which actors from media, education, industry, urban planners should engage as levers for change
• Increased stakeholder awareness and education of the possibilities of ICT is needed to meet the challenges of the 21st century healthcare systems, in particular: creative solutions to educate young people to stay healthy; education of teachers, parents on disease prevention and healthy choices principles; informing healthcare professionals and policymakers on the possible strategies and tools enabled by ICT
• Innovation and knowledge transfer on health and wellness services can be stimulated by selective public investments and incentives that result in large scale longitudinal projects - possibly cross-border and with regional cooperation, to: address organizational change in health systems; address technical integration challenges; create huge employment opportunities with novel service models that may provide long term support to an ageing population
• Private risk taking should be encouraged in order to create sustainable "business not as usual" and to improve and open local communities to new opportunities
• Social innovation can turn challenges into opportunities, always involving people and focusing on local culture
• The European institutions should encourage and support knowledge and skill transfer, networking facilities, integrated funding structures
• Regional incubators for social entrepreneurship should be created and promoted.

The conference was closed by Odile Quintin, Director General for education and culture, who reminded that the conference marked the midway of the European Year of Creativity and Innovation, a crucial initiative of the European Commission in the context of the current economic and financial crisis.

http://videolectures.net/eycisfc09