Profiles of the month: Carlo Vuijlsteke and Isabelle De Voldere

Carlo Vuijlsteke and Isabelle De Voldere are both senior policy advisors at IDEA Consult, each with a professional background of over twenty years in supporting the sustainable development of cultural and creative sectors.  

Throughout Carlo Vuijlsteke professional career, he has developed special expertise and knowledge of topics at the intersection of culture and creative industries with economy, entrepreneurship and innovation.

“I have been involved in numerous projects to support entrepreneurship in the creative industries and guided creative entrepreneurs and businesses in their growth strategy while working at Flanders DC, the publicly funded supporting organization in Flanders for creative entrepreneurs”, Carlo Vuijlsteke explains.

Between 2013 and 2022 he was also the coordinator of the international Districts of Creativity Network (www.districtsofcreativity.org) that unites 13 innovative regions all over the world. Together these regions share and develop good practice on how to stimulate creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship in a region, with a specific focus on crossovers with the creative industries.

“As an expert on cultural and creative sectors at IDEA Consult I have built up expertise on policy support research, policy evaluation and vision and strategy development for clients such as the European Commission, the federal government, the Flemish government and organizations in the cultural and creative sectors”, he says.

Isabelle started her career as researcher at the Faculty of Economics and Applied Economics of the Catholic University of Leuven, and later at the Vlerick Management School, where she focused her research on sectoral and regional competitiveness, innovation and entrepreneurship.

“This was the first time I started researching the cultural and creative sectors, through mapping studies and industrial economic analyses of creative value chains. At IDEA Consult, where I works since 2008, I have further specialised in applied research and advice in the areas of cultural policy, innovation and entrepreneurship policy”, she says.

In the last 15 years she has developed a particular interest in advising on the socio-economic position of professional cultural and creative actors, creative ecosystems, and the role of CCIs in society.

“I coordinated multiple projects commissioned by regional, federal, European authorities, intermediary organisations and sector representatives on finance, entrepreneurship, the impact of digitalisation, cross-sectoral collaborations for innovation”, she explains.

She has also contributed to policy evaluation and development in the area of cultural and creative sectors at both regional and European level.

Both Carlo Vuijlsteke and Isabelle De Voldere focus on the policy formulation part of the ekip-engine and are responsible, together with other partners, to deliver 13 policy labs throughout the project.

“In the policy labs we address specific policy challenges and develop policy recommendations that can contribute to better fostering the potential of cultural and creative industries (CCIs) as an innovation actor in open innovation ecosystems”, Carlo Vuijlsteke explains.

The policy recommendations are not only directed towards Research and Innovation policymakers, but to all policymakers that contribute to the development of such ecosystems at the regional or European level.

So, what are the challenges?

There is a growing policy attention for the role that CCIs can play in innovation ecosystems and in societal transitions, such as the transition towards a digital, green and inclusive society.

Isabelle De Voldere clarifies:

” Look for example all the experiments and research done on the role of arts and culture in the area of health in the past years. However, the CCIs are not yet fully seen nor integrated as an innovation actor in research and innovation policies and funding instruments and support initiatives”.

For example, it is often very difficult for the CCIs to get access to specific research infrastructures, that are crucial for testing and piloting new innovations.

” Throughout the policy labs we explore which barriers/challenges exist by exploring various areas where an open innovation approach encompassing the cultural and creative sectors is desirable”, she says.