Experts from Europe and Asia met to discuss how cities can foster creativity and innovation. They outlined three phases to develop a "Risky City" where people are encouraged to take risks and try new ideas: 1) Identifying and nurturing potential through diversity and creative learning. 2) Growing potential via incubators and removing barriers. 3) Harnessing potential by developing international strategies and using universities to attract talent and investment. The goal is to integrate creativity across all sectors and empower citizens to shape their city.

2. The Risky City: Innovation is the Outcome. Creativity is the process

3. The Challenge
CONTEXT
CITIES
CREATIVITY
DEVELOPING THE RISKY CITY
PHASE 1
PHASE 2
PHASE 3
CONCLUSION
INDEX
4
5
6
6
9
10
11
12
13

4. 4 The Risky City: Innovation is the Outcome. Creativity is the process
The potential of the creative economy and the
ability of creative crossovers to foster innovation
was the topic of the 6th Culture Ministers’
Meeting of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in
Rotterdam in October 2014.
The creative industries are among the most
rapidly growing parts of the world economy.
the
Challenge
These industries are demonstrating the ability to
employ culture and creativity to provide insights
into and solutions for the pressing social and
economic challenges of our times. When properly
nurtured, the creative industries can enable job
growth and wealth creation, and support social
inclusion, cultural diversity and environmental
sustainability. Talent can be employed and
used not just within the creative industries, but
across sectors to share knowledge and develop
breakthrough innovations.
So what would a city need to be the most creative,
inclusive and innovative city in the world?
This city - creative, inclusive and innovative - is
one with the right conditions where individuals,
companies, education and government, can
take risks and try new ideas: the Risky City.

5. 5OKTOBER 2014
Nine experts from across Europe and Asia came
together to tackle this question in a workshop
programmed and organised by Leo van Loon
in cooperation with the European Creative
Business Network (ECBN) and Het Nieuwe
Instituut, Rotterdam. These experts brought
together the perspectives and experience of
some of the leading cultural centres within the
ASEM member states, including Singapore,
Spain, Thailand, Estonia, Slovakia, Hong Kong,
France, Netherlands and the UK.
This workshop, Cities: Entrepreneurship and
Creative Crossovers, was one of three held
during the 6th ASEM Culture Ministers’ Meeting
on 20th October 2014, under the theme Creative
Industries for Society: Talent, Technology and
Trade.
After a day of exchanging ideas, experiences
and examples of best practice, the experts
agreed that in order for a city to be creative and
inclusive, there needs to be an end to isolated
thinking toward the creative industries and for
creative professionals to be better integrated
across other sectors. Members offered each
other new perspectives and together tackled
the big issues involved, from economic policy
to community, education, and market demand.
Their vision was then presented at the ASEM
Ministerial Meeting.
CONTEXT

6. 6 The Risky City: Innovation is the Outcome. Creativity is the process
Over half of the world’s population lives in cities.
Culture and creativity are now seen as crucial
for cities in developing creative clusters and
new businesses, and so creating new jobs and
becoming happy and thriving communities.
The workshop aimed to understand and assess
the concept of (re) developing creative cities,
using examples of best practice from ASEM
member-states and bringing together strategies
from both Asia and Europe. By taking an
integrative approach based on cross-disciplinary
thinking, the group considered the factors that
make them a success, the barriers they face and
the role of governments and the rest of society in
making change happen. In other words, how can
we create and sustain the Risky City?
CITIES CREATIVITY
Creativity is now widely viewed as a crucial
component of successful economies and
societies. With the rise of the creative and cultural
industries, the difference they can make to the
way people live and work is increasingly being
recognised. This shift of emphasis includes
a renewed focus on creative crossovers: the
way in which the creative industries can help
catalyse innovation in other sectors, whether
through the products and services they provide,
or as a means of originating and spreading new
ideas, knowledge and ways of working. For
example, design and other creative services
such as ad¬vertising are firmly integrated into
the operations of almost all businesses – from
the development of new products through to
how they are marketed and sold. Cities are
also at the forefront of this rise, as they are
crucial in the development of creative clusters,
that make cities punch above their weight and
which are uniquely connected internationally.

7. 7OKTOBER 2014
“Innovation is the outcome.
Creativity is the process”
- Tay Tong (Director at Arts Network Asia and
Managing Director of TheatreWorks, Singapore)
Creativity is now a global issue, as both Asian
and European governments try to stimulate their
creative industries and develop the creativity of
their citizens.

8. 8 The Risky City: Innovation is the Outcome. Creativity is the process
“In our city, from a very early age,
children are challenged and taught to
take risks. They learn to risk failure in
all aspects of life. To us, this is called
entrepreneurship.”
Leo van Loon (Managing Director of Buzinezzclub and European
Creative Business Network)

9. 9OKTOBER 2014
A city that is creative, inclusive and innovative
is a Risky City. The discussion was structured
around the building blocks of the Risky City:
the principles and beliefs that underpin its
development, and the three phases of support it
would need to be successful. The first phase of
support – the seed phase - identifies and nurtures
potential; the second phase of support grows
that potential; and the third phase of support
harnesses and capitalises on this creativity.
DEVELOPING
THE RISKY CITY

10. 10 The Risky City: Innovation is the Outcome. Creativity is the process
With the foundations of the city built, the group
outlined the activities needed for the first phase
of growth, the seed phase, in order to identify
and nurture potential. They include:
Promote interdisciplinary learning:
more attention needs to be paid to what and how
we learn. In particular, risk and failure need to
be both encouraged and supported, especially
at a young age in order for children to be more
independent, experimental and confident with
their ideas.
Encourage and support diversity:
recognising that diversity - people from all
backgrounds – breeds creativity.
Work to unlock creativity:
with schemes and events to find creative
talent and provide cross-border mentorship
opportunities for them between existing powers
and start-ups.
Create market demand for new talent:
through schemes to buy local design and
creative services.
Principles and beliefs:
building the Risky City
These principles and beliefs are the foundation
of the Risky City. They are the ground rules,
developed by our experts to guide how a city can
function effectively, inclusively and sustainably.
They include:
Everyone has the right to happiness:
from an inclusive, accepting society that allows
individuals to make the most of their talent and
ambition.
A commitment to environmental sustainability:
must be central to the development of the city, to
ensure its long-term success.
Friction can breed creativity: the Risky City
acknowledges that tension and stress can be
harnessed to transform and innovate.
Everyone has access to creative opportunities:
inclusivity is at the heart of the city to encourage
participation and exchange of knowledge and
skills.
The government respects creativity’s impact:
The government must acknowledge the cultural
and creative impact of its citizens and industries
and show they are valued.
Identify and nurture potential
PHASE
1.

11. 11OKTOBER 2014
The second phase of activities helps to identify
and nurture creative potential, to help it grow.
For this to happen, the Risky City should:
Strengthen creative hubs and incubators:
bring together talent and stimulate their growth
potential through programmes and physical
spaces, provided by hubs and incubators. The
impact of these locations could be increased by
creating a strong network for the exchange of
skills and knowledge.
Fight to remove red tape: removing red tape
would allow a strong start-up culture with little
bureaucracy and fewer barriers to innovation.
Identify the missing links in creative growth:
that are stopping businesses from accessing
finance, developing cross-sector relationships
and supply chains. This will help to create an
inclusive, creative ecosystem.
Grow the potential
2.
Create new links to enable crossovers:
with the links identified, focus on the barriers
to growth that exist for small businesses and
start-ups. These include: improving access to
finance, refreshing intellectual property rights
(IP), promoting export markets and building skill
and knowledge exchange across industries. If
crossovers could be enabled, for example with
funded support, other industries could harness
the potential of creative problem solving and so
foster growth.

12. 12 The Risky City: Innovation is the Outcome. Creativity is the process
Funding the Risky City
New and innovative ways to fund culture and
creativity should be creative themselves, such as
allowing citizens to make voluntary tax payments
for programmes they want to support. Such creative
strategies would empower individuals and encourage
people to have a stake in their city.
The third phase explored how to harness and
capitalise on this creative potential in order to
support sustainable social and economic growth.
For this, the Risky City needs:
Show political leadership: agree a focus – a
specialisation – that brings skills and expertise
to a city, supports economic development while
enabling social change.
Develop internationalisation strategies:
including export opportunities and trade
missions, and building platforms that can help
young creatives to learn from international
successes and in international markets.
Harness and capitalise
3.
Use universities and incubators as magnets:
use their networks to attract talent, investment
and create start-up and employment
opportunities. Universities should think more
about what happens to students outside of their
degrees – they should invest in a student’s
career and entrepreneurship competencies, not
just their education.

13. 13OKTOBER 2014
The building blocks of the Risky City.
These actions provide the foundations and
materials for a creative, inclusive and innovative
city. But these are just the first steps. Every
expert emphasised the need for new ways to
end the isolation of the creative industries, and
so make the full economy ‘creative’.
CONCLUSION
The conversation was ignited by the phrase
‘crossovers’, but the discussion preferred the
term ‘cross-fertilisation’ – used to exemplify
how industries across the creative, political
and economic spectrum and communities can
work together to create an entrepreneurial and
creative city, for the benefit of everyone.

14. 14 The Risky City: Innovation is the Outcome. Creativity is the process
Appendix 1: About the experts:
• Leo van Loon (programmer & organiser) – PopVox, Buzinezzclub and ECBN, Netherlands
• Rachel Chan – Innofoco, Hong Kong
• Michal Hladky – Kosice 2013, Slovakia
• Boris Meggiorin - Quartier de la Création / Art & business cluster of Nantes, France
• Mehjabeen Price – Creative England, UK
• Rafa de Ramon – Utopicus and ZINC, Spain
• Ragnar Siil – Creativity Lab, Estonia
• Tay Tong - Arts Network Asia and TheatreWorks, Singapore
• Martin Venzky-Stalling – Creative Chiang Mai, Thailand
Appendix 2: About the Asia-Europe Culture Ministers Meeting (ASEM)
The Netherlands hosted the 6th Asia-Europe Culture Ministers Meeting (ASEM) from 19-21 October
2014 in Rotterdam. The topic was Creative Industries for Society: Talent, Technology and Trade. The
ASEM Culture Ministers used this 6th meeting to exchange experiences and discuss the benefits and
challenges of the creative industries.
The meeting was attended by delegates from 43ASEM Partners and theAsia-Europe Foundation (ASEF).
Find out more about the 6th ASEM event at http://asemculture2014.org/
Find out more about ASEF at http://www.asef.org/
APPENDIX

15. 15OKTOBER 2014
Appendix 3: About ECBN
ECBN is a network of cultural and creative industries development agencies. ECBN represents our
19 board members and over 220 creative centres in 23 EU-countries. Its main aim is to help creative
entrepreneurs to internationalise – to do business and collaborate internationally. ECBN were founded
in 2011 and are a non-profit Foundation, based in the Netherlands.
http://ecbnetwork.eu/
Appendix 4: About Het Nieuwe Instituut
• Het Nieuwe Instituut organises exhibitions, lectures and fellowships, carries out research and
development projects, and publishes reports on the outcomes of its projects.
• Het Nieuwe Instituut arose on 1 January 2013 out of a merger of the Netherlands Architecture
Institute; Premsela, the Netherlands Institute for Design and Fashion; and Virtueel Platform, the
e-culture knowledge institute.
• Find out more about Het Nieuwe Instituut at http://www.hetnieuweinstituut.nl

16. Innovation is the Outcome. Creativity is the process - Report Oktober 2014
The
Risky City