2009, European Year of Creativity and Innovation
Europe needs to boost its capacity for creativity and innovation for both social and economic reasons.
That is why the Commission has today adopted a proposal to declare 2009 the European Year of Creativity and Innovation. The decision will be taken later this year by the Council and the European Parliament. The modern world puts emphasis on better use of knowledge and rapid innovation. It therefore requires a broadening of the creative skills base involving the whole population.
In particular, there is a need for skills and competences that enable people to embrace change as an opportunity and to be open to new ideas in a culturally diverse, knowledge-based society. Education and training are determining factors in this.
Ján Figel’ Commissioner responsible for education, training, culture and youth, believes the Year is "an effective way of helping to meet challenges by raising public awareness, disseminating information about good practices, stimulating education and research, creativity and innovation, and promoting policy debate and change.
By combining action at Community, national, regional and local levels, it can generate synergies and help to focus policy debate on specific issues." The Commission does not propose that a specific budget should be allocated for the Year, arguing that it can be organised by using existing EU programmes and planned administrative expenditure. In order to involve all those who might be interested, the Commission invites member states to appoint national coordinators who can cooperate through a small steering group at EU level.
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