Creative Net coordination project

The Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike) has been selected to coordinate the national Creative and Cultural Innovation Expertise theme.

The vision of Taike’s Creative Net coordination project is that the creative and culture sectors will create new expertise and work, while at the same time strengthening the appeal and retention power of Finland and its regions. The interaction of experts in the creative industries with actors in education, science and different regions will produce new cultural and social innovations and business models.

One of the objectives of Creative Net is to encourage small and medium-sized creative and cultural actors throughout Finland to participate in ESF+ project applications. These actors often have the expertise and great ideas, but not always sufficient project experience. Targeted and systematic funding advice, sustainability thinking and joint development are needed for different actors.

The tasks of Creative Net include the following:

• To facilitate collaboration between national and regional projects within the theme.
• To gather best practices for use by other projects and actors. 

The ELY Centre for Häme acts as the funding authority for ESF+ projects under the national Creative and Cultural Innovation Expertise theme. The total amount of funding available to projects during the programme period is 13.6 million euros. In the first phase, a call for ideas was open from 31 October to 2 December 2022. The actual call for applications is open from 15 March to 15 May 2023.

Taike’s role in Creative Net is that of mediator, cross-pollinator and motivator, aiming to ensure that the objectives of the Creative and Cultural Innovation Expertise theme are realised during the programme period.

The budget for Taike’s coordination project is approximately one million euros. A four-person project team has been established within Taike to oversee the project. The lessons learned from the ESF+ coordination project will remain in the use of Taike.

The Creative and Cultural Innovation Expertise theme is being implemented within Priority Area 4: Competent and inclusive Finland that provides work (ESF+) of the Innovation and Skills in Finland 2021−2027 – EU regional and structural policy programme under specific objective 4.2 New expertise for working life. The Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture is responsible for the theme, and the funding authority is the ELY Centre for Häme.