The International Conference “Creativity: Innovative, Open and Economically Sustainable Models of Creative Production”, organized by the National Documentation Centre (EKT/NHRF) on September 30 and October 1 2013, is designed in order to examine and present emerging models of creative production in Greece, as they develop within the wider context of the European tendencies and developments in the field of cultural and creative industries. This international and public event will bring together representatives of contemporary practices, where research and applied innovation, culture and science, creativity and entrepreneurship meet.

All conference speakers will examine and determine the so called 'open production', in terms of economic, legal, technological, as well as artistic aspects. Economic models of open design, spaces of collaborative artistic production, policies for the reinforcement of new structures for creative production, audiovisual projects focused on the limits of openness, individual experiences of new entrepreneurs regarding the sustainability of innovative business models, will comprise the rich tapestry of this conference, the purpose of which is to highlight, especially in the context of the current economic circumstances, the significance of interconnection of cultural production and the spaces that produce knowledge with the creative industries.

There will be specific reference to the use of open and collaborative technologies, particularly regarding the field of three-dimensional printing and open fabrication, since they are considered to be the pioneers of the development and application of economically and socially sustainable models of production.

Furthermore, 6 works created by young Greek artists and artistic collectives, with the support of EKT/NHRF and in the context of the CIMPA project, will be presented on the second day of the conference. These works, employing contemporary technological tools, utilize available open data and touch upon issues related to contemporary research, employment and production, along with initiatives and innovative proposals focused on sustainability and autonomy. The works will be included in the next group exhibition by the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens, featuring in total the works of 34 Greek artists and artistic collectives. The exhibition will open on the 24th of October, 2013, and will be on display until the end of the year.

At the same time, on the premises of the National Hellenic Research Foundation (NHRF), one of the featured works of the exhibition will be on display from the 30th of September. The work is the installation AKTINA* by the artistic teams City Index Lab and Energize, which produces energy capable of sufficing for the everyday needs of users of the “public space”. Placed on the courtyard of NHRF, the installation will collect solar energy, in order for the 3D printers to be charged, which in turn will serve to print three-dimensional open designs during the conference.

The conference, which will be bilingual, featuring simultaneous translation in English and Greek, is organised in the context of the project “Creativity: Innovative Models of Production and Access” (CIMPA) and funded by the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA), specifically from the Culture Programme (2007-2013). The conference will be broadcasted live at www.ekt.gr/events/live.

#creativity.ekt.gr #conference #info

The following information concern the Conference “Creativity: Innovative, Open and Economically Sustainable Models of Creative Production”, such as the detailed program of the conference, information about the CIMPA project and a concise description of the basic concepts related to it.

#when
30.09 - 01.10.13

#where
@National Hellenic Research Foundation: Auditorium “Leonidas Zervas”, Vasileos Constantinou 48, Athens. Admission to the conference is free, however online registration prior to the event is required. You can register online here (http://www.ekt.gr/news/events/ekt/2013-09-30/participation_form.htm) 
The conference will be broadcasted live at http://www.ekt.gr/events/live/.

#program
 http://creativity.ekt.gr/en/program/17

#conference_info
Communication for the Conference: National Documentation Centre
Kallia Oikonomou, tel.: 210 7273938, e-mail:oikonomou@ekt.gr

#press_info
Communication for the Press: National Documentation Centre
Margaritis Proedrou, tel: 210 7273966, e-mail: mproed@ekt.gr 

#creativity.ekt.gr #project

The National Centre of Documentation (EKT/NHRF), in the context of its activities towards the promotion and reuse of validated research, scientific and cultural knowledge, implements the European project Creativity: Innovative Models of Production and Access. The project concerns the recording of innovative practices within the European creative industries, during a period when the economical sustainability of the cultural production depends to a great extent on the promotion of new, flexible and more collaborative structures of creativity. The conference is part of the project “Creativity: Innovative Models of Production and Access (CIMPA), which is funded by the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA), within the Culture Programme 2007-2013.

#open
The mode of production of intangible goods, whether this is an article in an encyclopedia or a computer program, a map or a piece of music, has changed radically throughout the recent years. Examples such as Wikipedia, the computer operating system Linux, the open maps Open Street Map and music platforms like SoundCloud, suggest that the production of cultural goods develops gradually in a more collaborative, open and collective mode, through digital platforms and with continuous re-processing of basic cultural resources.

Another exceptionally interesting fact is that this model of collaborative production and reuse expands dynamically to actions of limited, until recently, “openness”: from the funding of enterprises via electronic platforms with decentered mode, without any “market mechanism”, to e-government practices, the effectiveness of which is now associated with the “opening” of data (the data concerning the place and time of Public Transport is an indicative example).

This “opening” we come across widely in the digital world has a tremendous effect on the analogue one and, particularly, on the way the production of artifacts of applied and fine arts develops, on behalf of the artists preoccupied with concepts such as reuse and ownership, as well as on behalf of designers using and providing open for reuse designs. Initiatives, such as openFabrication or openFab are based on the sharing of physical spaces, where the designing takes place, but also on the sharing of knowledge and fabrication of original and functional three-dimensional artifacts. Those models are based on intellectual property management tools, such as open licences, intending to facilitate and not limit the access to the digital goods.

The “Creativity” conference organized by EKT/NHRF comes to present those models, evaluate their relation to more traditional models of creative production and promote their composing elements, which can contribute to development and innovation during an exceptionally unfavorable situation for the country.

#creativeIndustries
The Creative Industries comprise the sum of the activities based on individual creativity, skill and talent, with the potential to generate wealth and jobs through the development of various models for managing intellectual property rights. The European Creative Industries’ contribution to the total  GDP of the 27 member states of EE  amounts to 560 billion euros for the year 2008, accounting for 4.5% of European GDP (EU27), while the number of relevant job positions amounted to 8,5 million.

There are instances when the creative industries coincide with the cultural industries, some including artifacts produced in the context of applied and fine arts, audiovisual and musical industry, fashion and photography, while the activities relevant to museums, archives, artistic galleries and libraries remain outside this realm. The term creative and cultural industries is used identically in this instance, whereas the industry of education, research and science functions complementary to what is in total addressed to as industry of knowledge.

EKT/NHRF, as a knowledge-intensive organisation and the official body for the aggregation, conservation and provision of a uniform open access point for certified scientific and cultural knowledge in Greece, develops infrastructures and services that support the Creative Industries field and contribute to the decision making for policies based on qualitative and quantitative data.

#evidenceBasedPolicy
The policies adopted on national level in respect to the reinforcement of creative industries are crucial for the evaluation of their contribution to the further development of the field. This reveals the necessity of an evidence-based policy making.

EKT/NHRF plays a crucial role regarding the provision of data necessary in order for those policies to be made, being currently the institution collecting the sum of research and innovation data throughout the country. The conference for Creativity constitutes an initiative on behalf of EKT/NHRF, in the context of its aim to contribute to the understanding of innovative ways for the management of creative industries and the development of policies capable of reinforcing the further evolution of the field. With this purpose in mind, the conference will incorporate presentations concerning the qualitative data collected by EKT/NHRF regarding the field of Creative Industries in Greece.