IN SITU: Place-based innovation of cultural and creative industries in non-urban areas

01.07.2022. – 30.06.2026.

The project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme.

IN SITU is a four-year project that combines research and experimental actions to advance the innovation-related practices, capacities, and potential of cultural and creative industries (CCIs) based in non-urban areas of the EU countries.

The IN SITU project goals focus on advancing knowledge of the forms, processes, and governance of innovation involving CCIs located in six non-urban areas of Europe (test sites - IN SITU Labs) and advancing the ability of nonurban CCIs to act as drivers of innovation, competitiveness, and sustainability for the locales in which they are located.

A core of the IN SITU project is the interlink between research and practice through these place-based IN SITU Labs: creative collaborative incubators – hubs for new projects, training, and networking initiatives. 

The six IN SITU Labs are located in non-urban areas in countries located on the “periphery” of Europe and encompassing countries in both the south and north of Europe - Šibenik-Knin County in Croatia, the Azores archipelago of the mid-Atlantic Ocean in Portugal,  Western coastal periphery in Ireland,  West Region in Iceland,  West Coast and Baltic Sea archipelago in Finland and Valmiera county in Latvia. 

Participatory methodologies and place-based approaches inform the research to be conducted through the Labs.

Specific objectives of the project:

1. To identify and quantify the socioeconomic contributions of CCIs and their social and economic spill-overs in non-urban regions across Europe.
2. To elaborate the roles of place-based evolution and related activities in the trajectories and sustainable development of CCIs in peripheral places.
3. To assess the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemicon CCIs in non-urban regions.
4. To identify the innovation potential of CCIs based in non-urban areas of the EU and how CCIs act as drivers of innovation in other economic and social sectors.
5. To examine the needs and resources of CCI actors in six selected non-urban areas.
6. To monitor the development of 12 place-based CCI projects that embody creative responses to social, political, and environmental issues.
7. To design and implement a specific programme to foster cross-sectoral connections and horizontal networks, to build new skills and capacities, and to mentor new entrepreneurial social and business models and innovation among CCIs in six selected non-urban areas.
8. To assess how CCIs and cultural policies in certain places can be aligned with innovation policies and S3 (smart development) policies for non-urban regions.
9. To identify possibilities and potentials for future growth of CCIs in non-urban regions across Europe, and provide strategic policy recommendations for enabling this development.

The IN SITU project consortium comprises 13 partners from 12 countries, consisting of 11 research institutions, a European-wide CCI network, and a national cultural foundation:

• Centre for Social Studies of the University of Coimbra, Portugal (Coordinator)
• University of the Azores, Portugal
• Latvian Academy of Culture, Latvia
• Bifröst University, Iceland
• University of Galway, Ireland
• University of Turku, Finland
• Utrecht University, The Netherlands
• University of Hildesheim, Germany
• Mondragon Innovation & Knowledge, Mondragon University, Spain
• National Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment, France
• European Network of Cultural Centres, Belgium
• National Academy of Theatre and Film Arts “Kr. Sarafov”, Bulgaria
• Kultura Nova Foundation, Croatia

Project website:  https://insituculture.eu

More information:

project coordinator at the Latvian Academy of Culture Ilona Asare, tel.+371 26011102, Ilona.Asare@lka.edu.lv