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This year’s annual Reverse Mission of the DC Network will be hosted by are fellow member in Baden-Württemberg. The annual study visit focuses on creativity and urban development. Delegations of all the member regions will take part in a three-day fact-finding mission to exchange and learn about local projects, companies and organisations.

Baden-Württemberg, home to international market leaders and hidden champions, is known first and foremost as an innovative technology base and for its high-quality industrial expertise. However, alongside this, the region also plays host to a distinctive cultural and creative scene.

The Film Academy Baden-Württemberg in Ludwigsburg is one of the top ten film schools in the world for visual effects training. Many of the scenes in the series “Game of Thrones”, which has won awards internationally, were made in Stuttgart. When it was founded, the University of Popular Music and Music Business in Mannheim was the first state higher education institution for popular music and music business in Germany. And Stuttgart State Opera has already won the title of “Opera House of the Year” several times.

This year, Baden-Württemberg has an outstanding project underway in the area of urban development and landscaping with the BUGA Garden Show in Heilbronn. CyberValley in Tübingen is one of the largest research collaborations in Europe in the field of artificial intelligence.

Discover the program here. If you are interested in joining, please contact your nearest regional member.

At 2018 Shanghai World Creative Economy Summit the Chinese Creative Economy Cooperation Committee (CECC) and the international Districts fo Creativity Network (DC Network) officially confirmed their strategic cooperation. CECC will from now on be the representative organisation for Shanghai within the DC Network, which unites regions all over the world that focus on stimulating creativity and creative industries.

“The ambitions and achievements of cities such as Shanghai and Hangzhou to develop their creative industries are impressive,” says DC-Network coordinator Carlo Vuijlsteke. “We look forward to learn from each other and increase cooperations”.

A visit during the summit to Artinno Town, a creative hub and incubator of 3,5km2 in Hangzhou demonstrated the development of creative industries in the region. The hub is surrounded by the renowned China Academy of Art, several museums and a music conservatory. It already houses 1800 creative companies and hosts several creative events such as the China International Cartoon & Animation festival.

The next upcoming activity within the DC-Network to which a Chinese delegation will be invited will be the 2019 Reverse Mission on creativity and city development, hosted by member-region Baden-Württemberg in Germany.

45 participants from different nationalities and backgrounds took part in the third edition of the DCLivingLab, one of the core projects of the Districts of Creativity Network. The DCLivingLab is an international student workshop on creativity and innovation.

This year’s edition was organised by DC-Member Flanders DC and took place in Antwerp on Sept 24-28, 2018 during SuperNova. 10 teams worked on 5 real life challenges, coached by people from Flanders DC, the University of Antwerp and Achilles Design. Besides the workshop the students also participated in the conference and met various DC Network-delegations during a pitch night and closing showcase moment.

“This has been one of most amazing experiences ever. At first, I didn’t know what I was going into, but I learned so much and I enjoyed every minute of it. I got to meet an amazing group of people from different countries and made unforgettable memories with them,” said Ricardo Oropeza, a student from Northeastern State University, Oklahoma.

Working in an international team proved to be a rewarding experience for other participants as well: “DCLivingLab was empowering for my professional skills as well as a cultural enrichment. It has contributed a lot to my development as a young professional”, said dutch participant Anouk Van Bussel of the Avans University of Applied Sciences.

Next year’s edition of the DCLivingLab will take place during the Creativity World Forum 2019 in North-Brabant.

More info: www.dclivinglab.info & www.instagram.com/dclivinglab

With representatives from India’s fastest growing IT-hub Bangalore, innovation leader Baden-Württemberg, creative hotspot Catalonia, buzzing Central-Denmark and many other regions, SuperNova will mark the 40th gathering of the international Districts of Creativity Network (DC Network).

Every DC Network member region brings a high level delegation of entrepreneurs, innovation-experts, policy makers and regional representatives to SuperNova. SuperNova is a one-of-a-kind conference and festival in Antwerp (27-30 September) organised by flemish member Flanders DC, Scale-Ups.Eu and partners. Find out more at www.supernovafest.eu.

“The delegates not only have the opportunity to see some of the world’s top tech and innovative minds at work at the SuperNova conference, but can share and learn from other regions and countries across the world,” says DC Network coordinator Carlo Vuijlsteke. At this year’s annual member meeting innovative projects and regional strategies will be exchanged and ways of cooperation discussed.

“SuperNova is a great opportunity to meet creative people from all over the world and to learn from their expertise and knowledge. Together with the delegates from Baden-Württemberg we are looking forward to get inspired and to bring back many fresh ideas to Baden-Württemberg and our creative scene,” says Hanna Schaefer, project Manager of Baden-Württemberg for the DC Network.

Next year’s gathering of the DC Network will take place in North-Brabant, during the Creativity World Forum 2019.

This year the annual Creativity World Forum (CWF), one of the largest conferences on creativity and innovation throughout the world, takes place in Antwerp (27-30 September 2018) and exceptionally expands to SuperNova, the festival of the future. SuperNova is a one-of-a-kind event where today’s thought leaders, the most promising scale-ups and outstanding companies from all around the world gather in Antwerp – to talk, pitch and showcase.

SuperNova invites today’s game-changers and thought leaders such as Seth Godin (Global best-selling marketing author), Anna Rosling Rönnlund (one of Bill Gates’ five personal heroes), game designer Jane McGonigal (recognized as one of the world’s top innovators by MIT) and more on stage to share their visions and insights on the technologies, business concepts and creative ventures of tomorrow. Discover the speakers here!

SuperNova also invites companies to showcase themselves as innovators in their fields at the SuperNova Tech Fair! As an exhibitor, SuperNova gives you the opportunity to meet your next clients and partners at the biggest tech fair in Belgium and find the perfect match for your job vacancies.

The conference is also the top meeting moment of the international Districts of Creativity Network. The DC Network invites each of its members to join SuperNova with a high level delegation of entrepreneurs, innovation & creativity experts, policy makers and government officials.

Join us and 3000 creative minds and book your ticket now!