The Policy Club kicked-off during the Creative Bureaucracy Festival on 15 June 2023 in Berlin.
EIT Culture & Creativity, the ninth Innovation Community (KIC) supported by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union, is excited to announce the launch of its Policy Club. It addresses a systemic gap in policymaking whereby the Cultural and Creative Sectors and Industries (CCSI) regularly fall between the stools of economic, cultural and research policies. By missing coherent cross-domain policies the CCSI cannot reach their full potential.
This initiative seeks to offer systemic solutions to foster innovation in policies, frameworks, and regulations for the CCSI. It is a platform both for peer learning and to implement actionable solutions in policymaking. The Policy Club aims to bridge the gaps between policies by bringing together policymakers and decision makers from various sectors and domains, enabling them to prototype and implement quickly innovative policies in communities, cities and regions.
“The Policy Club represents a significant milestone towards a better functioning ecosystem of the Cultural and Creative Sectors and Industries. By fostering coherent policies, programmes and frameworks that overcome policy gaps between the domains of culture, economy, research and education, EIT Culture & Creativity supports a fit for purpose foundation for local creators to thrive, to turn ideas into innovations and income, and to grow and create jobs. We invite policy makers from all sectors to join us in this exciting initiative.”
“We need a policy club, because we need to re-assess and reinvent our incentives and regulations regime. It will only gain traction once we have embedded a new mindset. This involves understanding viscerally the urgencies of our times and ensuring our values, attitudes and behaviours change. Politicians, public servants, business, and academia must help shape this new landscape of thinking, planning and acting as does providing people with agency to harness our collective imagination, intelligences and collective influence.”
The Policy Club invites approximately 30 policy makers to participate in its inaugural year, with a plan to expand to up to 200 participants by the end of 2027. Interested individuals serving as elected politicians, civil servants, or representatives of professional associations from across Europe and beyond are encouraged to apply. Applicants from all domains of policymaking at local and regional scale are welcome provided they have an interest in cultural and creative practices and policies as a resource for developing innovations and problem-solving.
The application process for the Policy Club is open until 31 July 2024, with two cut-off dates for applications. The first deadline is 31 July 2023 for the selection of the first batch of participants, followed by the second deadline on 31 July 2024 for the second batch. Applicants are required to meet certain eligibility criteria, including a minimum of 5 years of documented experience in policy making and fluency in English.
Selected participants, referred to as delegates, are expected to actively engage in the activities of the Policy Club, which offers a unique opportunity for policy makers to collaborate, exchange knowledge, and contribute to harnessing the potential as well as concrete problem-solving proposals for the Cultural and Creative Sectors and Industries.
To apply for participation in the Policy Club and for more information about the eligibility criteria, application requirements, and selection process, interested individuals can review the Call for delegates, uploaded here:https://eit-culture-creativity.eu/openpositions/
EIT Culture & Creativity Policy Club ambassadors supporting its inauguration and initial building:
- Janet Ågren – Deputy Mayor of the City of Umeå
- Araf Ahmadali – Head of Culture, City Amsterdam
- Gerbrand Bas – Federatie Creatieve Industrie
- Jan Bormans- CEO of European Startup Network
- Carsten Brosda – Senator for Culture and Media, Hamburg
- Simone Dudt – Secretary General of European Music Council
- Lars Ebert, Secretary General, Culture Action Europe
- Secretary General, Culture Action Europe
- Yordanka Fandakova -Mayor of Sofia
- Maria Hansen- Executive Director of ELIA Artschools
- Jari-Pekka Kaleva – Managing Director, European Games Developer Federation (EGDF)
- Urmas Klaas -Mayor of Tartu
- Charles Landry – Founder of Creative Bureaucracy Festival
- Scott Lipinski – CEO of European Fashion Alliance
- Carlos Moedas – Mayor of Lisbon
- Tommaso Sacchi – Deputy Mayor for Culture, Fashion & Design, City of Milano
- Helen Smith – Executive Chair of Impala Music
- Elke Timmerman – Flanders DC
- Gerin Trautenberger – Chair of Kreativwirtschaft Austria
- Anita Debaere – Director Pearle*-Live Performance Europe
About EIT Culture & Creativity
EIT Culture & Creativity is the ninth Innovation Community by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union. It is designed to strengthen and transform Europe’s Cultural and Creative Sectors and Industries (CCSI) by connecting creatives and organisations to Europe’s largest innovation network. It takes a holistic and open approach to innovation – from tech to artistic driven innovations, from business to citizen driven – and reinforces the appreciation and anchoring of European values and identities. EIT Culture & Creativity will unlock latent value from a multitude of small CCSI stakeholders through technology transfer, improved cross-sectoral collaboration and their effective integration in production value networks. EIT Culture & Creativity will support technology and business innovation; artistic innovation and social innovation. It will also harness the unique position of the CCSI to facilitate the Triple Transitions in Europe – green, digital and social.
About The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT)
The EIT is Europe’s largest innovation ecosystem bringing together close to 3,000 partners from top business, research and education organisations across Europe in over 80 innovation hubs. The EIT strengthens Europe’s ability to innovate by powering solutions to pressing global challenges and by nurturing entrepreneurial talent to create sustainable growth and skilled jobs in Europe. The EIT is an EU body and an integral part of Horizon Europe, the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation. The Institute supports dynamic pan-European partnerships, EIT Knowledge and Innovation Communities, composed of leading companies, research labs and universities each dedicated to solving a pressing global challenge, from climate change to health, to renewable energy.
