Boosting innovation across sectors and borders

Driving innovation across sectors and borders requires a shared foundation. ekip develop innovation policy recommendations addressing Innovation Building Blocks. The building blocks are key factors as funding, infrastructure and knowledge that an ecosystem needs to perform. The aim for ekip is to create a common language and support structure to enable the transformation of entire areas and where also the Creatives are part of driving innovation.

“Within ekip, we have had to establish a shared basis so that we can collaborate across different innovation areas, industries and geographical boundaries,” says Katarina Scott, Senior developer Future By Lund. “This is important because we work to develop innovation ecosystems all over Europe, with people from different linguistic and cultural starting points and divers Creative Industries.”

Innovation Building Blocks shows which elements are needed to transform an area – such as the right resources, effective infrastructure and access to knowledge.

“Innovation Building Blocks is about identifying the ingredients required in an innovation ecosystem,” Katarina Scott continues. “This is a classic approach for policymakers or company management to ensure that all parts are in place for development and transformation linked to an innovation team. But it can also be relevant when building an innovation district that is attractive from a broad perspective for cross-border innovation work.”

REVEALING THE BUILDING BLOCKS

By examining the building blocks, it becomes possible to see if anything is missing, where the ecosystem is strong, and to discover hidden resources – such as laboratories or testbeds that could be made available to more people and sectors.

“It takes skills and capabilities to create environments where collaboration is natural, respectful and forward-looking, and where we interact in a constructive and fruitful way,” says Charlotte Lorentz Hjorth, Coordinator ekip/Lund University.

Resources are essential for innovation work – but they are not always found where you first look. Especially not for the Creatives.

“When resources are brought together and presented within a thematic area – a portfolio – they become more attractive to investors and spark greater interest,” Charlotte Lorentz Hjorth explains.
“Universities have many lab infrastructures that are not always easily accessible, but if we organise together, they can be used more systematically as important building blocks also for the Creatives in an innovation ecosystem.”

POLICIES WITH DIFFERENT GOALS

The work with Innovation Building Blocks has highlighted the difference between cultural policy and innovation policy. Cultural policy often focuses on supporting individual artists work and productions. Innovation policy on the other hand, is about what is created – and how it can be scaled as innovations. Where cultural policy protects artistic expression, innovation policy focuses on how solutions can be spread and multiplied.

“One unexpected result from ekip is that we clearly see the tension and the different logics between cultural policy and innovation policy,” says Charlotte Lorentz Hjorth. “That also gives us opportunities. If we can use both together – so that, for example, the performing arts can be testbeds for new technology – we may have found a new superpower. That simply gives us more building blocks to work with in the innovation ecosystem.”

ekip has started to call this Innovation by Production – a way of innovating where we use setting up an artistic production as also an opportunity to develop solutions that can be scaled