Project Overview

Abstract

Innovation Festival (IF…) is a celebration of innovation and creativity across six European cities, mobilising their citizens, youth, businesses, researchers and other regional players to broaden their minds and be part of multiple events that will not only showcase excellence and innovativeness but also address important societal challenges such as boosting creativity, tackling climate change or decreasing mobility barriers in urban environments.

Project Overview

The Innovation Festival (IF…) project will organise and promote six Innovation Festivals in 2009, 2010 and 2011, starting off in Barcelona in 2009, followed by Lisbon, Kortrijk and Milan in 2010 and by Vilnius and Tallinn in 2011.

Innovation is more than technology. It starts with an idea or even a thought: “What IF…”, “Imagine IF…”, “IF only”. IF… is where innovation starts and it sets the tone for this series of six Innovation Festivals. They will focus on societal challenges that are addressed by innovation and demonstrate how innovation, together with creativity, can contribute to regional development. Each event will also help to raise the international profile of each city and strengthen the regional innovation identity. IF… addresses critical societal challenges that go from enhancing mobility in urban environments to tackling climate change or boosting creativity. Collaborative innovation will be showcased by the key regional players, including knowledge institutes, companies, research and development organisations, policy makers, without forgetting the citizens. The goal is not just to demonstrate, but to allow participants to experience the benefits of creative, collaborative thinking.

Specific objectives:

• Demonstrate how innovation and design respond to societal challenges;
• Help to raise the international profile of a city or region, thus contributing to building a stronger regional innovation identity;
• Bring different institutions and organisations closer together, thus strengthening the regional innovation systems and the overall commitment towards innovation.

Activities

In order to achieve the objectives described above, six IF…, Innovation Festivals, will take place in different European regions (Barcelona - Spain; Lisbon - Portugal; Kortrijk - Belgium; Milan - Italy; Vilnius - Lithuania and Tallinn - Estonia), organising and promoting numerous activities that address different audiences such as conferences, workshops, exhibitions and performances that showcase innovation in different ways. IF… will also include two editions of the DME Award, an innovative design management competition. IF… will provide entertainment for the masses, involving them in unexpected ways across the cities and challenging the citizens to share their thoughts and ideas, thus contributing to the acceleration of regional innovation strategies.