Creative Communities First Erasmus Project

Project Title

Creative Communities First

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Partnerships for Digital Education Readiness

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Open and distance learning; Social/environmental responsibility of educational institutions; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses

Project Summary

COVID19 has decimated the creative economy and it NEEDS saving. Creative industries add hundreds of millions of euro to the European economies but in recent months due to restrictions and the social distancing paradigm hundreds of creative collectives (artists, craftspeople, writers, film makers and software designers) have lost ways to promote and sell their work. Meanwhile, at European Universities the sudden shift to online and distance learning has led to their so-called “third mission” being lost. Creative Communities First (CCF) seeks to simultaneously solve these two crucial COVID related problems. CCF’s main aim is to support HEI educators to digitally transform their teaching methods via e-service learning and online hackathons leading to increased levels of 21st century skills of staff and students and also – the rejuvenation of small, local, creative communities in the process.

We will achieve our objective primarily through developing and implementing 3 innovative and complementary Outputs during the lifetime of the projects, these are:

IO1 – CCF DIGITAL OPEN INNOVATION AND EDUCATION PLATFORM is a high-performing digital education ecosystem which promotes and facilitates e-service learning and enables European collaboration and international best practice between the HEI sector and creative industry communities.

IO2 – GUIDE TO THE SUSTAINABLE AND REGENERATIVE DEVELOPMENT OF EU CREATIVE ECONOMIES AND COMMUNITIES POST COVID19 provides creative industries communities and those who support them (e.g. HEI sector) with rigorously researched, up-to-date knowledge on the impact of the COVID19 crisis on creative economies and 30 transferable solutions which can be deployed to sustainably develop and regenerate creative communities post crisis.

IO3 – HEI PEDAGOGIC FRAMEWORK AND ONLINE HACKATHON GUIDE FOR CCF E-SERVICE LEARNING provides a transferable and replicable model of HEI led immersive e-service learning (facilitated via the CCF DOIP and online hackathons) which has the power and potential to rejuvenate small, local, creative communities adversely impacted by the COVID19 crisis.

Creative Communities First meets the needs of three main target groups and benefits them in the following ways:
TG1: HEI educators will benefit from a new combined digital pedagogic approach (e-service learning + online hackathon) which advances their so-called “third mission” and provides an immersive and applied learning experience for their students.
TG2: HEI students will benefit from new innovative digital learning experiences that will excite and engage them. They will acquire key 21st-century skills and attitudes such as collaborative problem-solving, interpersonal communication, critical thinking, self-efficacy as they co-create creative industries solutions. They will engage in immersive digital learning (incorporating e-service learning + online hackathon) and apply their knowledge of (e.g. AR, VR, 3D printing) and apply it to co-create solutions (inspired by IO2) to solve issues of creative industries communities (shared on the DOIP).
TG 3: Creative communities (of artists, craftspeople, writers, film-makers, and software designers, etc.) will benefit from a transfer of innovation from HEI designed to help them mitigate COVID19 and sustainably develop/regenerate their outlooks and business models in preparation for the future.
During the lifetime of the project, 950 participants from these groups will access, download and use the CCF resources (250 HEI educators 500 HEI students and 200 from the creative industries sector).

Creative Communities First will creates long term impact in two ways:
1. It recognises that creative workers and firms make our communities more innovative, through crossovers with other sectors and by breaking new ground in design, production and business models. Pre-COVID19, it was acknowledged that creativity and innovation were driving the new economy. Economic regions that embraced creativity were generating significantly higher revenue. This is even more important as we respond and rebuild post COVID19. In the recovery, cities and regions have the chance to reconsider their growth models and move towards one that promotes creativity as a driver of social impact, favouring resilience, skills creation and pro-social behavioural changes and HEI by way of projects such as CCF has a key role to play.

2. CCF positions HEI’s to become future universities which embrace open innovation, their third missions and create places (both physical and virtual) where university and industry are co-located and collaborate on projects that solve real-world problems. Future Universities are precincts of innovation that actively apply research for community impact and broker relationships between entrepreneurs and mentors, supports and funders.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 239330 Eur

Project Coordinator

VILNIAUS GEDIMINO TECHNIKOS UNIVERSITETAS & Country: LT

Project Partners

• European E-learning Institute
• Greatdale Ltd
• MOMENTUM MARKETING SERVICES LIMITED
• ACEEU GmbH
• KAAKKOIS-SUOMEN AMMATTIKORKEAKOULU OY