Flashback on the 10th Northern Dimension Forum and NDPC Round Table discussion
10th Northern Dimension Forum "Sustainable development in the era of global change: growth factors and (un)known challenges" was held on 4 April, 2019 in St. Petersburg, Russia.
As this event marked the 10th anniversary of the Northern Dimension Business Council (NDBC), past achievements of the Northern Dimension were discussed, but with the aim to look forward. NDBC is co-chaired by Rolf Jansson (President and CEO, VR Group) and Alexey Mordashov (Chairman of the Board of Directors, Severstal).
During the event six NDBC working groups had their parallel sessions: Energy, Machine Building and Engineering, Ecology and Circular Economy, Transport and Logistics, Health and Pharmaceuticals, Creative and Cultural Industry.
NDPC co-organized a Round Table discussion about sustainability and synergies of creative industries and cultural tourism. With the help of case studies the Round Table focused on an analysis of how these two sectors create products that encourage the development of human capital, social inclusion, strengthen connectivity, support responsible innovation and contribute to the development of the region. The focus of the Round Table was public sector and mostly non–commercial activities.
Seven presentations were given during the Round Table, followed by a discussion with the audience:
• How to Facilitate Synergies and Development between Tourism and Cultural and Creative Industry Businesses? Raitis Sijāts, Vidzeme Tourism Association, Latvia
• From Multi-Faceted Socio-Cultural Activities to the Development of Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Development of Small Territories, Olga Gracheva from “Creative Projects “Kaikino””
• Development of Cultural and Industrial Tourism in the Vologda region, Natalia Poppel, Severstal, Russia
• Towards Sustainable and Responsible Tourism Connecting Cultural Experiences with Nature – Examples from the Tavastia Region, Minna Takala, Häme Regional Council Finland
• The Center for Social Innovation in the Museum – the Practice of Cultural Intervention, Lyudmila Komarovskaya, State Museum Association "Art Culture of the Russian North"
• Creative Industries as an Opportunity to Develop Cultural Tourism, Ieva Šiušaitė, Public Institution "Trakų Vokė Manor, Lithuania
• Development of Small Territories Through Socio-Cultural Projects, Marina Mikhailova, “Garant” Center
The round table was moderated by Elena Bogdanova, Director, “Kizhi” Open-Air Museum and Dace Resele, Head of Secretariat, Northern Dimension Partnership on Culture. Geography of participants encompassed: Russia: Saint Petersburg, Leningrad Region, Arkhangelsk, Moscow, Latvia, Finland and Lithuania.
The conclusions of the Round Table were as follows:
• Taking into account rapid societal changes and the challenges within the CCI and Creative Tourism sector, one of the prerequisites for its further development is to boost professional capacity. It is evident that there is a lack of trained, educated specialists within these fields. That is why occasionally those are the investors who are upgrading the professional skills of stakeholders.
• Cultural tourism should be more environmentally and socially responsible. That is a relatively recent issue within these sectors, but it goes hand in hand with the common Northern Dimension directives that could be more accentuated in the implementation of future projects.
• In order to encourage local social initiatives, CCI organizations should apply an NGO approach to regional development through work with communities, raising social awareness and supporting individual social or cultural initiatives.
• Collaboration between administration and authorities – local, municipal, regional and international – on the one hand, and NGOs, local businesses, on the other hand, is necessary in order to create the most effective services and products for the benefit of communities. It is crucial to develop specific cooperation mechanisms, e.g. private companies supporting CCI structures whose business values are overlap with theirs.
• International cooperation serves as a quality indicator and helps to evaluate local strengths and weaknesses within the Creative Tourism and CCI sectors.
Photos of the event:
Download:
The programme of the Forum in English.
The programme of the NDPC Round Table on creative industries and cultural tourism – in English and Russian.
More information on the event is available here.
On April 5 the NDPC and Danish Cultural Institute also organized the Annual Workshop of NDPC "Sustainability and synergies of CCIs and Cultural Tourism in small and meidum business development perspective. See the programme in English and Russian.
