The European Award for Innovations in Culture and Creativity
Under the leadership of the european centre for creative economy (ecce) in Dortmund the Network for Innovations in Culture and Creativity in Europe (NICE) was initiated in 2013 by a consortium of 15 cities, universities, agencies and personalities from 10 countries and today amounts to 25 partners from 15 countries. It is a non-profit initiative funded by the Ministry for Family, Children, Youth, Culture and Sport of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
The annual NICE Award, financed by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Energy and Industry of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, aims to promote innovations from the cultural and creative sectors, especially those that spill over into the wider economy and society. The NICE Award prize money is jointly financed by the City of Bochum, the City of Dortmund, the City of Essen, the City of Gelsenkirchen and the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Energy and Industry of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia.
The winners are decided by an independent jury. The 2017 jury consists of
• Anne Stenros, Chief Design Officer Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland (Head of Jury)
• Pieter Aarts, ContentKings Rotterdam; Board Member of the Design Management Network, The Netherlands
• Kurt Mehnert, Folkwang University of the Arts, Essen, Germany
• Gilles Rougon, Member of the Board of Director 2015-2017 WDO - World Design Organization, Paris, France
• Miriam van de Lubbe, Van Eijk & van de Lubbe, The Netherlands
• Markus Wild, WILD Design, Shanghai/Gelsenkirchen, Germany
The NICE Award 2017 Theme:
Creating an Inclusive World – A Call for Transformative Innovations
Globalisation and digitisation have been drivers for the freedom of expression and exchange, for cultural diversity and intercultural tolerance. Additionally, civil rights, participation and social inclusion have incrementally become standard in policy working for the vision of an open, global and digital society without any form of exclusion. Human centric values are ideally to be mirrored in an open economy where fair trade benefits humankind on both the individual and societal level. A value-based society has to be mirrored by economic actors who base their decisions on the foundations of sustainability and social responsibility.
According to the European Commission:
„it is about ensuring that environments, products, services and interfaces work for people of all ages and abilities in different situations and under various circumstances.“
Today, the vision of an inclusive society is challenged by a range of phenomena that confuse the individual: The extraordinary speed of digital transformation raises the fear to lose rather than gain a better life; the volume and dynamics of transnational migration is perceived to challenge stability and safety of the social systems which were meant to protect; the otherness of cultural diversity seeds doubts about the value of discovering the other. Formerly unquestionable fundaments for the pursuit of happiness are now being doubted.
We believe that the stakeholders from the culture and creative sectors – artists, cultural and creative entrepreneurs and companies, public institutions, other professionals as well as researchers – are essential actors in shaping a better society. Thus, the NICE Award 2017 invites individuals, teams and organisations from the cultural and creative sectors to propose surprising and experimental solutions for helping shape an inclusive society in this high speed world of digital and global disruption. Special, but not exclusive, attention is to be given to human centric design, citizen participation and/or co-creation as well as transformative social innovation.
For more information please click "Further Official Information" below.
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http://www.e-c-c-e.de/fileadmin/content_bilder/presse/Downloads/NICE_Award_Call_2017_20170315.pdf