News Article

The Czech Presidency of the EU and European Commission officially launched the European Year of Creativity and Innovation 2009 on Wednesday 7 January with the slogan “Imagine. Create. Innovate”. The aim of the Year is to promote creative and innovative approaches in different sectors of human activity and help equip the European Union for the challenges ahead in a globalised world.

The European Year of Innovation and Creativity (EYCI) aims to raise awareness of the importance of creativity and innovation as key competences for personal, social and economic development. It has acquired a special meaning in the context of the current economic slowdown - the message it should convey is that Europe should not react to the crisis by reducing investment into skills and innovation. By emphasizing these priorities, the EU aims at shaping Europe's future in a global competition by fostering the creative and innovative potential in all of us. The EU will offer a framework for raising awareness of the issues concerned and promoting a policy debate on how to increase Europe's creative and innovative potential. As for previous European Years, measures will include promotion campaigns, events and initiatives at European, national, regional and local levels.

The European Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Youth, Ján Figel’, said: "This European Year is a horizontal, cross-cutting exercise involving many areas. Apart from education and culture, it involves enterprise, regional and research policies, social and employment policies, energy, transport, environment and the information society. I am pleased at the response shown already by all EU institutions and the Member States, and they are all planning to make the best use of the Year. It is also a sign of the importance of creativity and innovative capacity in Europe that many companies, associations and organisations have expressed the wish to become partners of the Year."

A website, http://www.create2009.europa.eu, has been set up, which is dedicated to the Year, with news, events and activities updated regularly throughout the year, policy and publicity messages, reports of the outcomes of activities and separate pages for partners of the Year. A special section will be dedicated to activities held in Member States, and another to the two-dozen Ambassadors of the Year.

The planned activities include a large-scale conference on the contribution of the EU's funding programmes to creativity and innovation, which will be held in Brussels at the beginning of March. Also in Brussels, a series of six public debates will be held on key topics relating to Creativity and Innovation from February onwards, to provide a platform for reflection and exchange of ideas which can contribute to policy discussion on Creativity and Innovation. They will cover such issues as cultural diversity, public sector, education, knowledge society, sustainable development and the creative arts and industries.

For more information:  Please contact the Enterprise Europe Network North East, the  European Commission’s business and innovation support  network via www.een-northeast.co.uk or 0191 490 9200.  Alternatively visit the European Commission year of Creativity and Innovation website http://www.create2009.europa.eu/.