Information

SHAPING THE FUTURE

„Creativity and innovation as an engine of growth for the cities and the region of Eastern Slovakia”

This conference is being organised under the auspices of the Representation of the European Commission in Slovakia.

What is “creative” industry?

At the conference “Creative, cultural industry – a new growth factor in the EU?”, held in December 2007 in Brussels, creative industry was defined as a multi-layered marketing segment, which includes cultural industry, more or less defined as; visual arts, dramatic art, musical art, cultural heritage, television and radio broadcasting, cinema, audiovisual, computer and console games, book publishing (including advertising) design and architecture linked to associated areas, such as the production of hardware, mobile phones, MP3 players etc. 

A net share of more than 2.3% of EU GDP in 2003 came from creative industry . The turnover from creative industry in 2003 was more than 100 billion Euro more than turnover in the ICT industry (Information and Communication Technology) and 350 billion Euro more than the automobile industry. According to the study “Interactive Content and Convergence – Implications for the Information Society”, published on 25 January 2007 by the Directorate General for Information Society and Media (part of the European Commission) (covering EU 25) revenues will rise from online content  more than fourfold from 1.8 billion Euro in 2005 to 8.3 billion Euro in 2010.

source: www.ciforum.sk/priemysel.html

Promoting creative industry in the Eastern part of Central Europe is a very new initiative

Our Aims are to:

• Introduce examples of projects and strategies in creative industries being developed throughout Europe, their models and their impact on those cities and regions.
• Bring together local partners and introduce them to the experiences of other cities and regions as well as demonstrating the link between a creative economy and our own development.
• Point out the problems of enforcing intellectual property rights, one of thevital subjects for the development of creative economy.
• Introduce people whose experience and creativity has contributed to the development of business and industry in their regions.

One of the main issues concerning the development of creative industry in Košice and, at the same time, the crucial investment made within the project Košice INTERFACE 2013, is the creation of a special space that will help enhance the building of innovative start-ups in this sector. We decided to call this space Creative Incubator and suggest that it should be established in the area of Kasárne/Kulturpark (former militarybarracks) in Košice – /www.kulturpark.sk/

Partners:

Košice 2013, n.o. has a very cooperative relationship with the European Capital of Culture RUHR.2010 and signed a memorandum of cooperation focused on transferring of know how especially in the topic of creative industries.

Further, private sector involvement is also essential. To this end, a memorandum of cooperation was signed with the VSE – RWE energy company in November 2009 together with RUHR.2010. RWE is the general sponsor of RUHR.2010 in Germany and the company VSE in Košice by signing the memorandum became a bridge between the two European Capitals of Culture.

The international partners and consultants for projects focussed on creative industries include Mind(21)factory – Stuttgart, the city of Stuttgart, Ortlos architects – Graz, British Council, RUHR.2010 European Capital of Culture.

As education is indispensable to achieve this goal, cooperation of the Technical University Košice has been secured through the signing of a memorandum of cooperation. Cooperation in this area is also being developed with the Košice Self-Governing Region.

Following discussions with partners it was suggested to hold an international conference to create a broader awareness of the topic of creative industries and technologies among local actors. The participation of internationally renown experts will increase visibility and interest among the general public in the topic.

The key topics of the conference:

• the importance of creative industries and innovations in the development of cities and regions – esp. of Košice and Eastern Slovakia
• the importance of cooperation among various business sectors, cluster initiatives
• incubators, funding and support schemes, SMEs
• presentation of best practices, projects being developed
• at the international level
• at the local level
• creative technology projects (iVAN)

Consultants and co-organisers:

• Berndt Fessel: RUHR.2010 – European Capital of Culture/ ECCE – European centre for creative economy
• Georg Flachbart: Mind(21)factory – Creative Director, Germany
• Berndt Hartman: City of Stuttgart – Project Manager, Creative Industry Projects, Germany
• British Council Slovakia
• Creative Industry Forum in Slovakia

Our target audience:

• Representatives from the key players in the private sector
• Representatives of SMEs (software, design, architecture, marketing…)
• Public sector: representatives of the municipalities from the whole of Slovakia and relevant bodies in public sector administration
• Universities: The Technical University of Košice, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University Košice, Prešov University and other Slovak universities
• Experts in the area of technology, design, architecture, IT …
• International groups or individuals according to their specialisation