Innovation will be crucial for the EU to stay at the forefront of global competition and growth – this applies also to the Cultural and Creative Industries (CCI). To this end the European Parliament, the European Commission and the OECD started initiatives to improve the regulatory ecology and the market conditions for the CCI.

The ARTS+ and ecce/ECBN support this new agenda for innovation and form a unique collaboration together with other strategic partners such as New European Media (NEM)/ Madrid Audiovisual Network (MAC), Fitzcarraldo Foundation/ ArtLab, I3, the European Commission for Education and Culture, UNESCO, the Federation of European Publishers and others. This strategic partnership for Innovation in the CCI, starting at THE ARTS+ in 2017, aims to create an innovative ecosystem for the support of tech-triggered innovations, to accelerate the rate and success of innovations and to overcome specific bottlenecks for cultural creative innovations at the crossroads of culture, technology and business.

THE ARTS+ Innovation Summit is a new and in itself innovative event in fostering this ecosystem – and will be followed by a series of events, f.e. the European Creative Industries Summit on November 27 2017 in Brussels.