The cities of Berlin, Paris, London, and New York recently launched an open innovation competition – The Creative Cities Challenge – seeking solutions that will help their cultural and creative sectors recover from the pandemic. The Challenge is being managed by the Global Innovation Collaborative (GIC) – an initiative including the four cities, Bloomberg Associates, Nitrous, and Microsoft.
“Culture and creation have been particularly hard hit by the pandemic. As we see hope returning and Paris reviving, it is time to get back on track in both of these key sectors. This international creative challenge, open to innovation players from all over the world, will be a unique opportunity to share our ideas and think about the future of the cultural and creative sectors that are essential to the prestige of our cities,” said the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo.
The Challenge will particularly focus on how venues can enable social distancing while maximising capacity, the use of adaptive infrastructure for events in temporary locations, and deploying data and technology to help businesses become more resilient. Solutions should address the new public health, legal, technological, and social challenges brought about by the pandemic and could be digital, technological, or financial in nature.
Rachel Loeb, President and CEO, New York City Economic Development Corporation, said: “New York City is home to some of the world’s most iconic arts institutions. Supporting our cultural and creative sectors is essential to restoring jobs and reopening our businesses. We look forward to bringing the creative industry back to life.”
July 20th, 2021 is the deadline for submissions.