The European Commission and the Swedish EU Presidency jointly organised the closing conference of the European Year on Creativity and Innovation took place on 16-17 December 2009. Launched in December 2008 under the slogan “Imagine. Create. Innovate”, the Year has promoted thousands of activities across Europe and beyond, raising the awareness of the importance of creative and innovative approaches in different sectors of human activity. It was a timely contribution to the debate on how to prepare the European Union for the challenges ahead in the globalised world. Almost 1.000 events and hundreds of projects from a variety of sectors, representing good practices in creativity and innovation, were highlighted, promoted and disseminated during 2009, under the logo of the Year and through its communication campaign. The backbone of the campaign, the European Year website, received almost half a million visits in 11 months, with almost 1,5 million pages viewed by visitors.

The conference aimed to put emphasis on successful examples of innovative projects and activities presented at various occasions across Europe during the year, and to offer a forum to share and reflect on experiences related to enhancing creativity and innovation. Among the topics to be discussed were the role of education, training and research in creating an eco-efficient economy, culture for a new creative generation and entrepreneurship – a key competence in lifelong learning. The event also offered a meeting place for policy-makers to discuss how to translate the outcomes of the Year in concrete measures and activities beyond 2009. The outcome aims to promote a continued and strengthened work within different sectors and beyond traditional sector boundaries at different levels of decision-making. 

For more information: http://create2009.europa.eu