The Creative Industry as a Catalyst in Innovation Districts
* (We use KKN here but see it as broadly synonymous with Cultural and Creative Sectors, FGM, and Cultural and Creative Industries, KKB).
team is an innovation policy platform for KKN across Europe, working on behalf of the European Commission. When Italian Research day in the world 2025 was held in Lund, Sweden, it was discussed how cultural and creative industries can contribute to value creation in innovation districts. Milan Innovation District (MIND) and Lund innovation district are two arenas where this can be done. Both cities; Milan through Politechnico and Lund through Lund University and Future by Lund, is involved in policies for innovation in the creative sector in ekip. At the venue in Lund were Valentina Auriccio, Politecnico di Milano, Alberto Mina from MIND and Charlotte Lorentz Hjorth from Lund University.
- We intend to bring the cultural and creative sectors and industries into innovation processes. We do this by identifying new policies that support this. We have developed a process — the eIP engine — where we bring together a network of partners to develop policy proposals,” says Valentina Auricchio, Politecnico di Milano. This can build a better support system for innovation in the cultural and creative sectors and industries. With the policy engine, we aim to introduce the same process across many industries in Europe, so that policies can be used more widely across sectors, between sectors and for cross-sectoral cooperation.
An interesting note within EIP is that the cultural sector often receives funding for production but not for innovation. From this, the idea of “Innovation by production” has emerged and evolved into a concept to capture solutions made in different productions and scale them into innovations. The policy recommendations of the EIP address and describe various so-called building blocks of an ecosystem that are needed for the success of innovation work. The building blocks range from funding to the availability of innovation infrastructures and different types of innovation support.
- We propose that the cultural and creative sectors and industries should be fundamental for innovation in all sectors, says Charlotte Lorentz Hjorth Lund University and project manager for team. We insist that innovation work needs to be done in collaboration between different areas and competencies, instead of being in silos. Specialization is of course very important, but when it comes to implementing how technology will be used in society, cultural and creative industries need to be involved in creating a transformation.
In both MIND and the Lund Innovation District there are academies, public organizations, business and intermediary activities (as in Milan Arexpo and in Lund Future by Lund and others). The Innovation District is a concept that, among other things, makes it easier and more efficient for actors in the field to work together across borders and to show a common image in order to increase cooperation with other districts.
For the innovation district MIND, the starting point was Expo Milano 2015 held on the outskirts of Milan to which there are good connections by train and air. After the exhibition, it was wanted to create a place for the development of the city. The vision for the future was an innovation district where the public sector, academia, industry and civil society can meet with the human at the heart. The area now houses, among other things, a research hospital, a hub for social innovation, the Human Technopole — a research institute for Life Science - and a campus of the University of Milan. In the area, the public and the private interact and there is also Areexpo, which has leadership responsibility for the area. The area is constantly evolving. 70,000 people come to the area every day, but MIND also wants to open up for contact with the outside.
- It is very important to have a dialogue with other parts of the world and build stable relationships, says Alberto Mina at MIND and Arexpo. We are developing a talent exchange programme but are also keen to engage with civil society.
Through Future by Lund, challenges are identified and the work on solutions is brought together in common innovation portfolios where many actors can work together with what one cannot solve on their own.
- Through work with innovation portfolios, we build a common capacity to meet the changes that will come, says Charlotte Lorentz Hjorth. We explore how we can launch innovation portfolios and catalyze work on what you can't do yourself. Many KKN businesses have the skills to be an ingredient in this work. At Lund University, we are actively looking for cross-linked areas of innovation. It is also important that these areas are made investable.
Voices from the Round Table
Some 20 stakeholders gathered for a round table to examine the prerequisites for having the creative industries as a more active part of the innovation process in the districts.
Lena Holmberg at Lund University stressed the importance of cultural and creative industries in order to succeed in the green transition.
- We in Europe talk a lot about “The Green Transition” in combination with competitiveness and resilience in industry, but we very rarely talk about KKN's contribution to this. We will only succeed if we take advantage of KKN's expertise in innovation, technology, collaboration and civic engagement. It is a movement that we need to work with in cities but also at regional and national levels. We must also be prepared to offer examples, otherwise there is a risk that you will see KKN only as something that is nice to have, instead of something that really makes a difference.
Lina B Frank on Circus South spoke of art as a process and not as a product.
- We have structured our society so that it is not culture that accounts for the solution. I believe that culture and creative industries can be both the process and the expertise that offer the way to the solution,” says Lina B. Frank, Cirkus Syd.
Several stressed that many of the innovations produced in, for example, technology and medicine could not be launched, accepted or used unless “humanistic competences” were involved in the process. “You cannot adopt new perspectives without being ready.”
To make it easier for KKN to participate in the innovation process, there are several things to do. One is to ensure that the organisational forms that exist in the field really enable KKN to participate. Another might be to not only measure patents to determine the value of, for example, an incubator, but also measure, for example, social impact. In Lund, there are also plans to launch Humanities Village as a way to raise humanities and the availability of these competencies in the innovation district.
Many thought about the perceived problems of communication between different disciplines, such as between technicians and engineers on the one hand and people from cultural and creative industries on the other. One problem may be that the innovation system is initially oriented towards technological innovations and therefore organized so that it is the technology that is financed. Other problems can be different ways of thinking but also different expectations of the role that people from the different disciplines should take.
Marie Löwegren is a teacher of entrepreneurship and told about her experiences from School of Economics at Lund University.
- We bring in students from all disciplines on our entrepreneurship program. It has its advantages but also its difficulties. In many cases, it is noticeable that the education system instills certain ways of thinking in the students. We need to work to make them understand the point of different ways of thinking and acting. People other than humanists can be creative and the creative must also be able to think in business terms.
Klas Hjort conducts research in trade and logistics at Lund University of Technology.
- I am an engineer and collaborate with cultural people and designers. It is in areas where we can work with open innovation that we work best together, and to increase that opportunity we work with Future by Lund. We have made the best solutions together and it brings benefits to everyone.
The constructive mix of competencies starts first and foremost from people.
- My experience from working with innovation portfolios is that many people who have technical expertise can also have both a great interest in music and a deep community involvement. When we label people as either creative or engineers, we fall into a trap. The important thing is to work with those who are curious and want to collaborate,” concludes Birgitta Persson at Future by Lund.
The discussion was held during the interesting event Italian research day in the world 2025 organized by the Italian Embassy in Sweden and with Augusto Marcelli and Julieta Casanova as driving forces.
During the event, the four innovation districts from Milan, Helsingborg, Malmö and Lund also met. Read more here.