#NDPCbootcamp for Cross-Innovation

The ability to see things from new perspectives is a superpower that can be used to change the world.

This year #NDPCbootcamp will bring together 10 practitioners from the Cultural and Creative Sectors (CCSs) and 10 practitioners from other sectors for cross-sectorial exchange and to enhance collaboration skills. We are aiming for the bootcamp to be the seed for new perspectives and collaborative innovations long after the event. Application deadline has been prolonged until: 19 March.

WHEN AND WHERE?

• 31.05. – 4.06.2023.
• Līgatne, Latvia

WHY?

We’re all in this together. To create a more sustainable world, all sectors need to work collaboratively to drive innovation and embrace new ways of living, working, producing, utilizing resources, and perceiving the world.

Exploring unfamiliar sectors can provide valuable insights for generating new ideas for projects, formats, products, services, processes and more. By looking beyond one’s own sector, new impulses can be found that can drive innovation and growth for everyone involved – both on individual and societal levels.

You should apply if you are:

• Interested in gaining new knowledge and inspiration about creative cross-innovations*;
• Eager to learn how to establish new formats of cross-sectorial collaborations;
• Looking for fresh perspectives on your day-to-day professional challenges;
• Excited to connect with diverse peers with similar interests.

WHAT TO EXPECT?

The upcoming bootcamp will be about mutual learning, exchange, networking, inspiration and collaboration. Be prepared for cross-innovation related expert inputs, peer learning and hands-on collaboration on real-life challenges.

Take a look at the recap of the very first #NDPCbootcamp that focused on creative entrepreneurship and took place last year. The participants have even prepared a message for you (as a future participant):

EXAMPLES OF DISTINGUISHED CROSS-INNOVATION PROFESSIONALS TAKING PART IN THE BOOTCAMP 

The goal of the bootcamp is to support cross-field networking between creative professionals and professionals working in other fields, and to recognize the mindsets and tools that cross-innovations require to succeed. This will be accomplished by means of expert lectures and workshops, group exercises and facilitated peer learning. Below you can read about some of the experts who are going to shape the bootcamp experience.

Tuomas Tirkkonen from the Tupu Creative, Finland (the bootcamp’s facilitator):

Tuomas Tirkkonen is a professional facilitator and coach working with organizational development through creative means. In addition to their work as a facilitator and a coach, they have worked as a mediator in projects that consist of collaboration between cultural and creative professionals and other sectors.

For example, in spring 2021, they worked with Arts Promotion Center Finland on the concept of “Creative Mornings”. In the pilot project, five artists executed short remote workshops for people working for various employees of the Finnish Government. Based on the pilots, Tirkkonen created a model for mediating and producing similar arts-based workshops in other organizations.

Read more about them here.

Louisa Steinwärder and Raffaela Seitz from the Hamburg Kreativ Gesellschaft Cross Innovation Hub, Germany:

The mission of the Cross Innovation Hub by the Hamburg Kreativ Gesellschaft is to tap into the creative sectors’s agile, fluid structures; its working methods and the innovative potential it offers for other sectors, so that everyone can benefit. To achieve this goal, the Hamburg Kreativ Gesellschaft set up the Cross Innovation Hub in 2016 as the go-to place for creative professionals in Hamburg and became a pioneer in interdisciplinary collaboration. The Hub was born out of the strong belief that the creative sector has enormous potential to drive innovation in trade, commerce, sector and public institutions.

Louisa Steinwärder and Raffaela Seitz are the project leads of the Cross Innovation Hub. The Hub acts as a strategic partner for solo self-employed professionals, freelancers and employees working in the creative sector, using a variety of formats to productively bring them together with industrial companies. Among others, they have helped to set up CCS collaborations with the aviation, logistics and energy sectors.

Read more about their work in their booklet Cross now! here.

Angelo Vermeulen (artist, biologist and space systems researcher), Belgium

He works on bio-inspired concepts for interstellar exploration at Delft University of Technology, with a specific focus on self-replicating architecture and biological life support. He has a deep interest in complex system science and is fascinated by principles of self-organisation, emergence and evolution.

In 2009 Angelo co-founded SEADS (Space Ecologies Art and Design) – an international transdisciplinary collective of artists, scientists, engineers, and activists. Its goal is to reshape the future through critical inquiry and hands-on experimentation. Among other interventions and activities, SEADS sent its Ēngines of Ēternity art project twice to the International Space Station, in 2019 and 2020.

In 2013 Angelo was crew commander of the first NASA-funded HI-SEAS Mars simulation in Hawai’i. For the last ten years, he has been collaborating with the European Space Agency’s MELiSSA program on bioregenerative life support for space. He advises several international space companies and applies his background in space technology to foster innovation in global food production and food security. Read more about his work here.

Johanna Kouzmine-Karavaïeff,  founding partner of the Artisans of Innovation

Johanna Kouzmine-Karavaïeff specialises in creative economy with a special focus on cross-sector collaborations. She is a founding partner of Artisans of Innovation and co-author of the report “Artists, Designers & Business in Cross-Sector Collaboration – Untapped Potential for Systemic Change” exploring context, challenges, opportunities and recommendations (2022)”.  

At the bootcamp she will be elaborating the benefits of creative cross-innovations  to the corporates, and how cross-sector collaborations can lead to systemic change. Also, as she is currently  commissioned to carry out the  the global benchmarking  within our “The Creative Cross-Innovations for Sustainability” project,  you will have an exclusive opportunity to hear about the first results.  

COSTS

The NDPC will provide accommodation, meals, coaching, content and the equipment required for the Bootcamp. The selected participants will need to cover their own travel costs to Riga and back.

If you would like to participate, but your current financial situation doesn’t allow you to, you can also apply for the Bootcamps’ travel grant (4 spots available, for further instructions see application form).

WHO CAN APPLY?

Practitioners from CCSs AND practitioners from other sectors from Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland and Sweden. We hope for great diversity and many different perspectives.

Although we do not expect you to have any previous experience in creative cross-innovation, clearly articulated interest and motivation will be highly appreciated.

What we mean by CCSs and other sectors? 

In this case, we refer to ‘cultural and creative sectors’ (CCSs) as all sectors whose activities are based on cultural values or artistic and other individual or collective creative expressions. The activities may include the development, creation, production, dissemination and preservation of goods and services, which embody cultural, artistic or other creative expressions.

Therefore, not all sectors are considered CCSs. Some examples of sectors that are not typically considered to be part of the CCSs: Service Sector (unless it is specifically providing creative services), Science, Technology, Manufacturing, Agriculture, Construction and other sectors.

Classifying a sector as a CCS can be complex as there may be overlaps between sectors. Even in other sectors, companies may have a creative aspect to their operations. To determine if a sector or a company is considered to be a part of CCS, it is essential to examine the focus of its operations. The key factor is whether it is primarily creating cultural or artistic insights/expressions/goods. 

HOW TO APPLY?

Fill in the application form by 19 March. We can’t wait to get to know you!

NEXT STEPS

Save the dates and wait for our message! At the beginning of April, we will inform the applicants if they have been accepted for the Bootcamp. The most important factor in the selection process will be motivation and interest in the creative cross-innovation topic.

If you have any queries regarding your application or the bootcamp, please email info@ndpculture.org. 

Please share this with anyone you believe should read it!

*What do we mean by creative cross-innovations?

Creative cross-innovations in terms of creative cross-overs are a cross-disciplinary process, where professionals from the arts, culture, and creative fields (CCSs) share and exchange information, working methods, skills, competency and creative approaches with other sectors and traditional sectors to collaborate in new ways with professionals from other fields.

The aim of this type of cross-sector collaboration is to tap into the potential of creative know-how, to promote new thinking, explore new ways of doing, boost product – process – and business model innovation, creative co-creation and novel types of cross-innovations within society, e.g. in the fields of research & technology, health and wellbeing, business and industry, urban development, pedagogy, sustainability, peace and security, etc.

The study “Collaboration and Innovation in the Northern Dimension Countries” (NDPC 2021) mapped cross-innovations and their potentials. The study concludes that creative cross-overs have a lot of potential for societal impact, but the underlying potentials are not yet being realized.