Many of today's challenges are so complex that they must be solved through the joint efforts of several actors. One way to work towards shared and long-term solutions that extend beyond a project is to coordinate a portfolio with selected partners and together create a strategy. Future by Lund is now based on this logic within various themes. For example, the portfolio is based on a challenge or an opportunity. It is the big picture that matters, and the portfolio can contain one or more projects. This is also the starting point of the European project Innovation Portfolio Approach (IPA) with support from, among others, the Swedish Energy Agency.

IPA will work with cultural and creative industries (KKB) and existential sustainability, a concept that allows linking internal and external transformation to create sustainability.

- A green transition cannot be done solely through technical and economic means, says Birgitta Persson, project manager for IPA. We also need to strengthen our relationship with each other, with nature and with the planet in order to make better use of resources. In the project, we will work with green transition using competences from the cultural and creative industries.

In the IPA, the three European cities of Lund, Timișoara (Romania) and Amsterdam (Netherlands) work together through three different types of intermediary organizations chosen to complement each other. In Lund it is the innovation platform Future by Lund, in Timișoara it is cultural organization PLAI and in the Netherlands it is the Master's Programme for Urban Managers at Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (WhA).

Each of the three actors will be identifiedsocietal challenges where the cultural and creative sector has great potential to catalyze innovation and co-creation. The project will facilitate and support 7—15 cross-sectoral and innovation projects in a portfolio logic. By including existential sustainability as a conceptual starting point, the cultural and creative sectors are linked to urban transformation and, at the same time, the work can increase interest in KKB to participate in co-creation and open innovation.

The three organisations will coach each other in the development of portfolios and input innovation projects. At the same time, the parties will also develop methods, models, tools and processes that promote portfolio work as well as mission-driven innovation projects in different urban contexts.

- I look forward to working with experienced project managers from cities with quite different conditions compared to Lund, says Birgitta Persson. It will be exciting to learn from them, to be challenged by them in a constructive and good way and hopefully also contribute myself to their work. If we create a good synergy, it will strengthen both our portfolios and the entrepreneurs we work with. It will also be interesting to show what open innovation can contribute to within KKB. We will develop forums and communications that can inspire and attract even those who are not usually on the innovation or entrepreneurial track. The idea is also to try unorthodox partnerships in which all sectors can get involved. It would also have been a good result if education in Amsterdam could incorporate the portfolio approach into its training.

The parties will develop concepts for co-creation forums and spaces where innovation processes can be experienced and explained. This is done with the aim of lowering thresholds and “democratising” innovation and urban transformation. The forum “Unexpected” was held in Lund in 2023, and now the goal is to hold a similar forum in the spring of 2025.

- We want to involve and inspire cultural actors to participate in open innovation. At the same time, this is one way is to develop a concept for forums where you can show things but also involve and create collaboration. Therefore, Unexpected will be implemented in a partially new version,” says Birgitta Persson.

The project also includes the partners Lund University, West University of Timișoara, Pakhuis de Zwijger and City of Amsterdam. They assist the project through their expertise and provide data, knowledge and research as well as provide scientific advice and contribute “dilemmas” from the field. They will also connect the project and its activities to the broader research community and networks of city authorities.

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Photos from the international forum Unexpected when it was held in Lund in June 2023.

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Innovation Portfolio Approach (IPA)

Project Time: 1 Jan 2024 — 31 December 2025

Financiers: JPI Urban Europe, where the Swedish Energy Agency and FORMAS manage the Swedish part.

Project Financing: €648,500 in the entire project

Partnerschappen: Future by Lund, PLAI, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (hVA), Lund University, West University of Timișoara, Pakhuis de Zwijger and the City of Amsterdam

Project Manager: Future by Lund by Birgitta Persson and Katarina Scott.

What are Joint Programming Initiatives?

Joint Programming Initiatives (JPI's) are intergovernmental collaborations defined by the European Commission in 2008. Today, there are ten initiatives that address different societal challenges. The programmes are run by the participating countries but also cover non-EU countries. The aim of the initiatives is to create the conditions for formulating and implementing common international research strategies. By coordinating their national research efforts, Member States can work together to create better conditions for tackling societal challenges and achieving impact in society. In addition to producing joint calls for calls, joint programming creates networks that can facilitate more effective application of research results and that the results can also be used as a basis for decisions in society.

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On using the power of human inner development to meet the global challenges.

Existential sustainability.