Creativity World Forum 2024: Final Conclusions

Over the three days of the forum 500 people were involved in the different activities, from 42 countries, and had the opportunity to listen to over 50 speakers and visit 12 cultural and creative institutions. The participatory discussion sessions on global challenges have been spaces for open dialogue, in which more than 210 participants have shared their own experiences and perspectives, enriching our collective understanding. And over 250 interactions were enabled at the speed meeting sessions. The forum was livestreamed during the first and the third day giving the opportunity to participants who could not attend in-person to follow the event in real time with simultaneous translation in three languages, English, Basque and Spanish.

For the active participation and networking organized sessions, as a reflection, we acknowledge that although prior preparation is crucial for facilitating these two different session setups, (speed meeting and open networking) it is equally important to maintain flexibility. Having a plan is essential, but scheduling open slots and creating comfortable, positive spaces where discussions can adjust to participant interests or emerging themes is key. Balancing necessary structure with the flexibility to explore ideas as they arise can significantly enhance the effectiveness and enjoyment of these kind of sessions.

TA1: Governance and CCIs.

In the cultural and creative industries, governance models must evolve to balance profit seeking or revenues generation with the imperative to generate social value, impacting areas such as mental health, social cohesion, and environmental sustainability. This needs a governance framework that includes diverse stakeholders, from artists to environmental experts, to ensure a holistic view in decision-making.

TA2: Innovation with and without CCIs.

The triple transition (green, social, digital) represents a unique opportunity of innovation WITHIN and WITH the CCIs due to three reasons:

• The first one is that there is a huge knowledge (also processes and methods) within the sector which gives the sector a pioneer role.
• The second one is that the sector itself is transforming. Young generations are going to face new business models and change them. These business models will incorporate innovation into their DNA and will bring their current potential to the entire systematic incorporation of innovation in companies.
• The third one is that CCIs has the ability and competence to transform other sectors (cross-fertilization) and parts of society, but here there is a huge need for a new innovation support system from the public administration.

TA3: CCIs companies and markets.

The biggest challenge we have as a sector is that we need to learn how to sell our story as a business better. For this to happen the sector needs to enhance their skills in business, they need to get support in translating their narratives towards the financial and policy level and they need to join forces as ONE big sector. This will create more trust and will make the CCIs a higher priority for investors and policymakers.

TA4: Education and Research in CCIs.

Self-awareness in individual terms but also as an ecosystem are key to foster a learner-centred approach to our teaching and learning models including skills related to hard and technical competencies and soft capacities demanded and needed by the CCIs sectors to take our Industries to the next level. Understanding education as the emergence of new skills for future jobs is essential.

DC Living Lab:

The process of DC Living Lab, weaving together talent from various DC Network regions, can mirror the possibilities of the creative and cultural industries regarding how work and knowledge can be created and taken forward. Multiple disciplines and cultures were brought together in a collaborative setting to face the challenges of today, and it was precisely the combination of skills and diversity of profiles that brought value to the outcomes. This gives food for thought on how important this diversity and collaboration is for the industry, which has been seen strongly in the heart of the conference this time. The key lines of the challenges bring together current and relevant themes such as sustainability, new technologies and collaborative structures. The example of this year's teams may inspire new projects forward locally and internationally. We see DC Living Lab continuing its valuable mission to keep bringing districts and international talent together, to imagine and to create the futures we seek. Not in a silo but as a vertebral line, hand in hand with the existing vital stakeholders and experienced professionals of the industry.

Global Challenge 1: New narratives on Climate change from CCIs ? visioning on a future worth having.

Andoni Hidalgo, Aleksandra Goldys, Maria Loloni. In this global challenge, the participants were divided into small roundtables where they discussed in a structured dialogue the current narratives guiding three routinary elements of our daily lives with a high impact on Climate (what we eat, how we move, how we dress). Following a role play dynamic, participants analysed the patterns, structures and mental models underlying behind these narratives, and proposed ways in which CCIs could help to transform them into new, positive stories.

• On the "What we eat" area, participants underlined the very rooted consumption habits where economic considerations -both from business and consumers- prevail over other kind of concerns -such as the food habits? impact on climate. To change this, CCIs can play a key role by shifting the paradigm towards conscious consumerism and citizen engagement.
• On the "How we move" area, participants stressed the need for a shift from a culture based on "the need to move" ? under which the paradigm of "fear of missing out" is very present- to one based on "the value of local". In addition, they also stressed the potential role of culture and creativity for countering individualism and promoting collective means of transport.
• On the "How we dress", CCI?s role on "rethinking design" was underlined. This industry has an enormous potential on raising awareness among citizens that remains currently unexplored. Further to the environmental impacts (CO2 emissions, enormous use of water), other considerations such us the respect of human rights were also mentioned.

Global Challenge 2: New business models for CCIs: how do we incorporate creativity and innovation?

Joseph Hurtado. The cultural and creative industries and the traditional industries have faced challenges that go beyond the lack of resources, often funding and the unwavering need to up skill as we gravitate towards as a society that faces technological disruptions and climate change urgency.

Hence, as efforts continue to tackle these challenges, the term 'innovation' frequently arises in the working environment. Indeed, innovation is recognized as a driving force for progress, making it essential for industries not to overlook this fact. Consequently, it can be stated that the CCI?s and the traditional industries have an interest to collaborate for:

• The exchange of knowledge to tackle common and pressing issues.
• Find collaboration pathways for an appropriate transition in which innovation and culture come together to develop solutions with a human centred approach.
• The need of going back to basics, to the need of being connected to our nature humanity that is about connection.

As industries cannot overlook in innovation, let?s do not forget that Innovation is about people and ideas, ideas and people only.

Global Challenge 3:

CCIs and the digital transition: towards more competitive cultural and creative industries. Jorge García Valbuena & Sonia Bilbao. In this last session During this session we delved into the current state of the digital transition within the CCIs sectors. We discussed how to get the most out of technologies such as generative artificial intelligence or Natural Language processing, analytical technologies and the use of data or advanced visualisations through extended reality.

Many opportunities were identified for the sector, but also major challenges in this digital transition, ranging from the need for capacity building and training in the sector, to the need for collaboration between actors in the sector itself, to the financial investment required to address the digital transition. While tools and instruments are available today, one of the main conclusions is the definite need for a better long-term strategy regarding strategic investment in the sector. This strategy should facilitate access to resources, including knowledge and equipment.

The other big hot topic of discussion was the impact of generative AI on the production of cultural and creative content. Embracing technology and welcoming the regulatory initiatives being implemented to ensure the protection, property rights, and ownership of content used for generating derivative works is essential. However, the evolution of these regulatory frameworks needs to be closely monitored to assess how they address aspects related to the content used for training AI models.