
Crafts-led innovation involves harnessing artistic and traditional craft skills, knowledge, and techniques to develop new ideas, products, or services. Crafts such as weaving, pottery, wood carving, leatherworking, and glassblowing play a key role in frugal innovation—creating high-quality solutions that maximize value at minimal cost. By leveraging resource constraints, traditional crafts contribute to cost-effective, sustainable solutions while preserving cultural heritage. Conversely, innovation enhances the preservation and societal value of traditional crafts.
Hosted by ekip partners IDEA Consult, the Crafts-led Innovation Policy Lab will explore:
Opportunities and challenges in crafts-led innovation;
Ongoing policy initiatives and critical areas of focus;
Actions needed to build thriving open innovation ecosystems;
How traditional craft skills can spark modern innovation, sustainability, and growth.
The policy lab will be held online in two consecutive sessions, with guest speakers from Tracks4Crafts and HEPHAESTUS.
6th of February (14:00-15:30 pm CET) – Exploring challenges and gaps in crafts-led innovation today
20th of February (10:00-12:00 am CET) – Co-creating actionable policy recommendations for tomorrow.
We invite crafts & CCI practitioners, policymakers focused on innovation and craft-related policies, funding organizations, clusters within innovation ecosystems, civil society stakeholders engaged in crafts-led innovation, and academics to attend both sessions and confirm their interest at the form here.