Creative Boost

Creative Boost - Online Seminars

Cultural and Creative Sectors (CCS) are among key ingredients for building a more innovative, cohesive, and sustainable society. This fact has received more political recognition both on the national as well as on the European level. The EU has recently reconfirmed its focus on CCS by announcing the New European Bauhaus and launching a 150 million EUR funding call for a new Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC) for Europe’s vibrant Culture and Creative Sectors.

The EU National Institutes for Culture (EUNIC) Cluster in Slovenia and the Centre for Creativity (CzK) Slovenia, within the framework of the EU Creative boost project, organised three webinars on "Policies for Cultural and Creative Industries (CCI) in Europe" which brought together experts from Slovenia and the EUNIC participating countries. The seminars were jointly coordinated by Ragnar Siil, director of the Estonian think tank Creativity Lab specialising in cultural policies and CCI strategies; and Anja Zorko, director of the Slovenian Centre for Creativity. The aim of the webinars was to contribute to a national research and policy recommendations for the development and support of CCIs in Slovenia by presenting good case studies from across Europe.

The first seminar took place on March 4th, 2022, on the theme “Effective Policies for Cultural and Creative Sectors” . The workshop has focused on integrated and coherent approaches to link cultural and creative sectors with other key policy areas and provide a holistic framework on developing the sector throughout its value chain.

The second was held on March 11th, 2022, and was about “Creative Place, Creative City, Creative Nation” . The workshop has focused on developing effective clusters and location- placed strategies for cultural and creative sectors on local, regional, and national level, as well as supporting internationalisation and visibility abroad.

The last one took place on March 18th, 2022, with the theme “Strong and Sustainable Creative Ecosystem” . The workshop has focused on key ingredients for a competitive, sustainable, and synergetic creative ecosystem, that brings together cultural and creative sectors, education and research, industry, and entrepreneurship, and which is based on mutual trust, inclusivity, and co-creation.

To conclude this project, the EUNIC network will certainly join forces with the BIO27 design biennial to propose a final event in September.



Workshop 1: Effective Policies for Cultural and Creative Sectors

  • Prof. Pau Rausell Köster, Economist and Professor of the Department of Applied Economics at University of Valencia (Spain)
  • Ms. Tania Banotti, Director of the Creative Ireland Programme (Ireland)
  • Mr. Paul Owens, Founder and Director at BOP Consulting (UK)
  • Ms. Natalija Medica, Secretary, Directorate for Internationalization, Entrepreneurship and Technology, Ministry of Economic Development and Technology Republic of Slovenia



Workshop 2: Creative Place, Creative City, Creative Nation

  • Ms. Lucia Seel, Member of the European Cluster Expert Group of the European Commission and Director at Lucia Seel International Consulting (Austria)
  • Mr. Jan Boelen, Artistic director of Atelier LUMA, an experimental laboratory for design at LUMA Arles in Arles (France)
  • Mr. Michel Pernet, Founder and President of Creative Industries Switzerland (Switzerland)
  • Mr. Balazs Weyer, Focal Point for Veszprém UNESCO City of Music (Hungary)
  • Mr. Gorazd Jenko, Secretary Republic of Slovenia Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy Smart Specialisation Coordination Unit



Workshop 3: Strong and Sustainable Creative Ecosystem

  • Mr. Bernd Fesel, Director of European Creative Business Network and Founder of ce_creative economy (Germany)
  • Prof. Pier Luigi Sacco, Head of OECD Venice Office and Professor at IULM University of Milan (Italy)
  • Ms. Barbara Koželj Podlogar, Acting Director-General, Creativity Directorate, Ministry of Culture Republic of Slovenia