What a gathering!
If talking about innovation in the country of traditions can be sometimes difficult, last week in Bologna I felt like I was on Mars. Let me explain.
On the 8th and 9th of June, our long-lasting partner ART-ER hosted the event R2B – Research to Business, the International Exhibition of Research and High Skills promoted by the Emilia-Romagna Region and BolognaFiere, in collaboration with MECSPE and under the artistic direction of WIRED. The 2023 edition of R2B was dedicated to talents and skills. It was like surfing on a physical let’s astonish each others-platform where universities, innovation networks, research labs, startups, and large companies met and presented the latest technologies and/or upskills programs for the development of innovative projects.
A wonderful networking opportunity, which traversed Italy with projects and opportunities, and gave us the chance to connect our soft approach to innovation with much more core and productive realities.
Along with our colleague and founding partners from the EIT Culture&Creativity, namely Art-Er, University of Bologna, Fondazione Fitzcarraldo, the National Research Centre (CNR), and the Research Institute for Cultural Heritage (ISPC) we confronted over the skills gap in the cultural and creative sector.
Furthermore, we presented for the first time the mapping we have been carrying out at the EU level for the new running EIT Culture&Creativity.
As Materahub, we brought our perspective and ideas over the importance of the New European Bauhaus and the skills associated with its vision, especially how today it is necessary more than ever to deliver it at a local level, spreading innovation consistently with the objectives of the NEB.
From energy to culture, passing through food and climate, what struck me was the systemic approach to innovation, which does not close it into the technology box yet spreads it to territories at a human level. A roundtable on culture and creativity at the fair of innovation, in Italy, is still something rare and what we experienced demonstrates, once again the interest which is currently courting the cultural and creative industries, and made it a central area of research for innovation.
