Creative Economies

Conference programme

Find details on the programme such as about keynotes, panels and workshops here.

Accreditation (9 AM)
Greeting Claudia Dörr-Voß
State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy
Introduction Simon Grand and Christoph Weckerle
Co-curators of the CreativeEconomies research venture at the Zurich University of the Arts
In their function as research partners of the Kompetenzzentrum Kultur- und Kreativwirtschaft des Bundes, Grand and Weckerle will take up the results of the International Research Symposium 2018 and show how the Conference Day 2019 can contribute to the continuation of these results. As a basis for the day, they identify dominant narratives and the pitfalls of their simplistic character in order to show that the potentials of the cultural and creative industries can only be valued beyond standard narratives and condensed into sustainable strategies. This is because practices, processes and strategies of renewal and uncertainty shaping inherent in the cultural and creative industries require new formats that must be made visible for a strategic positioning of the field in the global context.
Keynote I: Building smart cities based around data sovereignty: The Barcelona’s model Francesa Bria
United Nations Senior Adviser on Digital Cities and Digital Rights; Visiting Professor at the Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose of the University of London-UCL and founder of Decode, the biggest EU-project on data sovereignty. Former Chief Technology and Innovation Officer of the City of Barcelona
In her current role as UN Senior Adviser on Digital Cities and in her role as Chief Technology and Digital Innovation Officer of the city of Barcelona, Francesca Bria has introduced a city’s digital transition strategy focused on a participatory democracy and democratic control over digital infrastructures. Bria in her Keynote speeech proposes a new narrative on the digital transition focused on reconquesring diigtal sovereignty for citizens, and covering topics such as public institutions, the collective intelligence of citizens, how to rein in the Bigh Tech and the digital platforms and how to make sure that digitization and Smart City are implemented to deliver public value. Her examples shows how digitalization if well governed can enhance citizens’ democratic participation and tackle some of the greatest challenges of our times, starting from the ecological transition. She also demonstrates with the BCN Digital City Plan example that cultural, creative industries and STARTS (science, technology and the arts) play an important role in the transformation towards a sustainable digital society. The arts allow challenging existing narratives and a push towards new narratives, key to achieve large scale changes and experiment innovative sustainable solutions.
Panel Roman Page, data analyst at the Statistical Office of the Canton of Zurich and Research Fellow at the CreativeEconomies research venture of the Zurich University of the Arts
John Davies, Research Fellow within the Research Field Creative and Digital Economy at the Innovation Foundation NESTA London, Researcher for the CreativeEconomies research venture.of the Zurich University of the Arts
Frank Hyde-Antwi, conceptual designer at the interface of art and economy, visual designer and lecturer at the Zurich University of the Arts
Moderated by: Simon Grand and Christoph Weckerle, co-curators of the CreativeEconomies research venture at the Zurich University of the Arts
Reporting on the cultural and creative industries has changed surprisingly little in recent decades: The focus is on annual monitoring - followed by the criticism that the fine structures of the field and its high dynamics can hardly be reproduced in this way. How the dynamic dimensions of the field can be grasped and understood differently is explained on a theoretical level using models (Grand & Weckerle) as an example. Three inputs then illustrate which insights (and narratives) can be gained for the cultural and creative industries through the application of alternative and experimental mappings and new methodological approaches. Roman Page makes visible the agility of the descriptions and perspectives that can result from the intersection of already existing cross-country comparative data. Using the example of a city comparison, John Davies shows how existing data from the World Wide Web can be used for future-relevant statements about the cultural and creative industries. These quantitative experiments are complemented by insights from an international comparison using qualitative data collection on the boundaries and challenges of experts from the field in the context of their country's cultural policy.
Workshops The workshops, each of which begins with a keynote speech, are designed to transfer the inputs from the morning into a discussion that will incorporate the participants' practical experience and reflections. How can dominant narratives about "growth", "innovation", "SMEs" or "global governance" be reformulated? What are the consequences at best of the new narratives - also for one's own practice and entrepreneurial/political agenda?
#1: Culture and creative industries as a growth industry
Each report on the cultural and creative industries argues with the variables "growth" and "employment" as the essential indicators for a successful and relevant added value of the cultural and creative industries. In discussions with actors in the field, however, criticism of the unquestioned growth paradigm and the development of convincing post-growth models with a focus on values such as sustainability or meaningfulness plays a central role. How does the industry think about alternative models of scaling-up, scaling-down, continuous renewal or agile project formats?
Keynote lecture (15min) by Lena Marbacher
Workshop leader: Till Hasbach
#2: Culture and creative industries as drivers of innovation
It is repeatedly postulated that the state can only contribute to creativity and innovation by providing the necessary financial resources for innovation projects. However, it is not only the history of Silicon Valley that shows that many important innovations would not (have been) possible without state intervention. This workshop discusses the question of how the state can benefit from its commitment and investment in the cultural and creative industries, not only culturally and socially, but also financially.
Keynote lecture (15min) by Dr. Gesa Birnkraut
Workshop leader: Christian Rauch
#3: Mid-sized companies in the context of cultural and creative industries
In the cultural and creative industries, small structures are supported (precariat) or promoted (start-ups) and large global players (GAFA) are admired. At the same time, we know: Entrepreneurial, medium-sized (family) enterprises form the backbone of sustainable economic, technological, social and political development in Europe. To what extent can the characteristics of small and medium-sized enterprises be developed for the cultural and creative industries?
Workshop leader: Jonas Lindemann
#4: Culture and creative industries as an industry of the future
AThe future development of the cultural and creative industries depends to a large extent on how suitable framework conditions can be created to promote their specific dynamics of value creation. In particular, this requires a better understanding of how processes of the emergence of new perspectives and ways of thinking and the resulting entrepreneurial approaches can be adequately described. The workshop should address this topic in discussion with the formula “non-technical innovation” and question said formula critically. The recently published “Non-Technical Innovation” dossier of the Federal Government’s Centre of Excellence for the Cultural and Creative Industries will serve as a resonance space for the discussion, where the context in question will be negotiated along theses.
Keynote lecture (15min) by Sylvia Hustedt
Workshop leader: Jens Badura
#5: Cultural and creative industries in a global context
Again and again it is said that Europe has no convincing soft power narrative that can survive in the global competition for sustainable orientation. Europe, it continues, has nothing to offer compared to Hollywood and a new Silk Road. This workshop discusses the question of which central aspects of the cultural and creative industries could contribute to the successful positioning of Europe.
Keynote lecture (15min) by Sylvia Amann
Workshop leader: Mathias Leitner
#6: Let data speak
The workshop (held in German and English) will provide the opportunity to ask further questions on the work presented in the earlier panel. There will also be the opportunity to share and discuss experiences and questions of interest in understanding the creative industries with data. Topics could include: What conclusions can be drawn about Culture & Creative Industries when looking at data from cities, countries or (cross-border) regions? How does the difference between creative professions and creative industries manifest itself? What are the practical implications of a better understanding of data on the sector?
Workshop leaders: John Davies and Roman Page
Keynote II Wolfgang Ullrich
Art historian, cultural scientist, media theorist, consultant and author of newspapers and books, including the recently published book "Selfies. The Return of public life."
Against his background as an expert on the zeitgeist and other topics concerning the interface between art, economy and culture, Ullrich will critically classify the insights of the day and venture their significance for a future agenda.
Stagehosting: Jasmin Grimm

Find the detailed schedule as well as a German version of the programme here.

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Accreditation