In the framework of the RegionArts project, ARCTA Arctic Art & Design Labs / Arctic Design Cluster by the University of Lapland hosted together with Ornamo Art and Design Northern Finland a collaborative meeting on November 11th 2019. The meeting was held at the University of Lapland, Rovaniemi, Finland. This was the 3rd Local Stakeholder Group meeting under RegionArts project in Lapland bringing in the sector of information and communications technology into the mix with art and design collaboration and SME competitiveness.
The meeting contained presentations and a workshop, as well as a networking session. The University of Lapland presented ARCTA Arctic Art & Design Labs (design center service model) and Arctic Design Cluster operation, RegionArts project as well as SINCO Service Innovation Corner, a digital-aided service design environment coordinated by them (Faculty of Art and Design). Ornamo Art and Design Finland brought an international perspective with their ‘Greetings from Chengdu Design & Creative Week’ presentation. Proto, the Northern Finland Designers Association, provided a general presentation of their organisation and current operational themes as well as collaboration possibilities. Also, a presentation by Business Finland on their support services, especially funding and their Experience Commerce Finland program were planned but unfortunately postponed for a future meeting. Participants included the representatives from previously mentioned org. and other supportive public organisations association as well as companies and sole traders.
During the workshopping session experiences, needs and ideas about collaboration possibilities of arts, design and ICT were mapped, discussed and ideated. Different kind of existing/previous cooperation was brought out. Yet a need aroused, more demand for networking events and general fostering the link between art, design and ICT. On the focus were also discussions on the funding possibilities to support the cooperation. In addition, attitude issues were discussed based on the need for being more active itself to promote the cooperation possibilities, especially from a multidisciplinary perspective.
After the workshopping a free networking session was offered to enable participants to find further collaboration possibilities in practice. This was considered as very welcome also in the future for supporting the collaboration.
Altogether, the meeting offered valuable insights from the participants, especially from the new stakeholders, to improve collaboration between arts, design and ICT. The meeting was also a great initiative for national-level collaboration, i.e. to bring the University of Lapland, Ornamo and Proto associations more into collaboration. RegionArts project was found really interesting and beneficial. The University of Lapland will keep working on fostering the collaboration and SME competitiveness under Arctic Design Cluster and RegionArts activities together with the stakeholders and project partners.
