Lund has key Swedish role in ‘creative futures’ grant bid

Lund University is taking the lead role among Swedish institutions participating in a large European consortium seeking funds from the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). The bid is for funds to establish a new knowledge and innovation community (KIC) focused on creative and cultural industries.

The winning consortium, selected by the European Commission, stands to receive as much as SEK800 million (US$85 million) a year for up to 15 years in combined contributions from the EU and partners.

The EIT has a mandate to strengthen innovation capacity in Europe and is an important part of Horizon Europe. The KIC concept has seen the establishment of eight KICs focused on areas such as climate, sustainable energy and digitalisation.

The bid, coordinated by Aalto University in Helsinki, Finland, is known as ‘Creative Futures’ and was filed on 24 March. Involving years of preparation, it brings together 50 major partners from 20 different European countries representing business, municipalities, universities and research institutes.

A ‘national engine’ for cultural sector

Lund University is the only main partner institution from Sweden.

Kristina Eneroth, pro vice-chancellor for external engagement at Lund University, said the Swedish university was happy to accept the role of ‘national engine’ for the cultural sector.

“A KIC in the cultural area includes all of our university activities. Our ambition for this project is to see a strengthening of our own and our collaboration partners’ work in this area. The sectors’ creativity and innovation are needed for the benefit of the whole society,” she said.

Anna Lyrevik, chair of the project group for Lund University’s contribution and advisor to Lund University’s vice-chancellor, said by working “strategically and across borders between the academy, region, larger and smaller companies, the commune [municipality], and actors within the cultural fields, we are going to contribute to a sustainable future for the whole society”.

She said among the innovation areas Lund has worked in are ‘fashion-tech’, ‘gaming and technology meet archaeology’, and ‘humanity and nature’.

Culture as ‘heart and soul’ of Europe

Lund University Vice-Chancellor Erik Renström described the cultural sectors as “the soul and heart of Europe” in his blog on 25 March.

“This is a historically huge investment,” he said of the bid. “In these times, with war in Europe that is threatening democratic rights followed by existential worries that many now are carrying in the shadows of war and after a pandemic that only just has subsided, this effort is very timely.

“What is needed now is creativity, innovative solutions and investments in the cultural sector and industries. These sectors and industries are the soul and heart of Europe.”

He said all faculties at the university had contributed over a sustained period to the Creative Futures consortium through education and research in arts, music, theatre, film, and literature.

“Today the university is educating many graduates who are employed in the cultural sector as architects, designers, editors, game developers, lawyers, and others. These are important drivers for sustainable development and work locally, regionally and nationally all over Europe,” Renström said.

Explaining the background to the KIC project in a 2018 publication, Future by Lund, produced by Lund municipality and Vinnova, the Swedish innovation agency, KIC project leader Charlotte Lorentz Hjorth said the KICs have gathered Europe “around strategic potentials and areas that are important for the development of Europe.

“Earlier KICs have been focusing on natural sciences. Cultural and creative activities are contributing significantly to the GNP [of European countries] and there are many smaller businesses in this sector. I look upon these cultural ‘industries’ as a part of the European Union specialities and a great competitive advantage globally”.

Support for inclusion of cultural sectors

Lena Adamson, associate professor of psychology at Stockholm University, board member of the Swedish Royal College of Music and a former contracted expert to the EIT, said she strongly supports the move into the cultural sector.

“The mission of EIT concerns creating both new innovations and business, but equally important via its educational activities, is its contribution to a skilled workforce with a new more entrepreneurial mindset.

“EIT educational programmes are carried out at the KIC universities by their faculty but with the EIT-specific learning outcomes and other quality criteria that are required for the EIT Label,which the original EIT educational group, of which I was a part, formulated back in 2011-12, together with the EIT Quality Assurance and Learning Enhancement model, still in use after small revisions.

“I strongly support EIT moving into the cultural sectors. The timing is very good considering the severe toll this sector has taken during the pandemic.

“I also hope that the music sector will be heavily engaged since this is one of the faculties, at least at Swedish universities, which is financially neglected in comparison to other fields, even within the faculties of arts, but where, despite this neglect, Sweden has shown tremendous international success during a number of years.”

Sylvia Schwaag Serger, professor of economic history at Lund University, former pro rector 2018-21 and former director of Vinnova, told University World News: “In times of turbulence, transformation and existential threats such as these, the humanities play an essential but often neglected role in understanding the state of the world. I’m glad that this initiative contributes to raising awareness of the relevance of humanities in academia, society, and the interaction between the two.”