Now that the CreO Project is coming to an end, all that remains for us is to reiterate what we have said on countless occasions, both in our blog, and at project meetings: involving talented young people from different creative backgrounds in traditionally non-creative businesses or environments provides value and differentiation.
Most of the time, though, change was being instigated by people from outside the organisations themselves. Creatives, trail-blazers, visionaries... Throughout history, they show us that creativity is a necessary component for any business. Da Vinci introduced the crazy idea of flying into the collective imagination, and nowadays his design is considered to be the first serious sketch of an aircraft.
In this respect, we judge that the study of creativity and its “serious use” (De Bono, 1993) is of particular interest within businesses. This is the idea that businesses need to seek a balance between the traditional analytical approach to business management, and a new creative approach which some authors have called “the creative management approach” (Goodman, 1995) or “idea management” (Eckvall, 1992). Today, innovation has become a requirement, not only for starting out, growing, and developing, but even just for getting by. This gives rise to the need to consciously and constantly promote creativity within businesses, as opposed to the traditional attitude of being content to wait for it to spontaneously flourish. Additionally, businesses are, in turn, key instruments at the creative’s disposal for putting their ideas into practice and extracting commercial benefit from them. This gives them the validation of being truly useful and creative businesses.
As it happens, Júlia G. Escribà, a 20-year-old from Barcelona, could change the fashion industry forever with her 30-garment theory and the fabrics she has presented in her first collection of thermoregulatory clothing, which incorporates technology developed for NASA. Júlia believes in the power of technology to achieve change. With intelligent offerings and garments such as her thermoregulatory clothing, she says, we wouldn’t have to wear so many layers. Therefore, we would consume and pollute less (REF: https://smoda.elpais.com/moda/esta-barcelonesa-de-20-anos-podria-cambiar-la-moda-para-siempre-con-su-teoria-de-las-30-prendas-y-tejidos-de-la-nasa ).
Even closer to home, we have the Basque company Ludus (https://ludusglobal.com/), who have created the ultimate health and safety training and education tool using virtual reality. In other words, by applying video games to real-life industrial scenarios, we can learn to manage risk prevention during a fire, to operate a forklift truck, CPR techniques etc. This is an industry 4.0 concept which contemplates creativity as the key factor for industrial transformation in the Basque Country.
Is this the path we will follow over the coming years? At the moment, at the CreO project, with the support of the European Commission, we are making the most of the Vocational Education and Training network’s potential, as well as its close relationship with business, to mobilise the talent of students on creative courses to the benefit of the industrial and manufacturing sector, and to promote innovation in that sector. Hence, the teaching staff on these creative courses have acquired skills that allow them to train their students in skills and competences related to traditional industry. For their part, industrial sector business managers are implementing the guidelines developed by CreO to guide students during their business placement, when completing their workplace-based training. CreO provided the methodology and the materials for both of these parties to be able to tackle these challenges. The CreO project is coming to an end, but this symbiosis between creativity and business has been introduced into Basque industry gradually, little by little, with the clear intention of changing it and helping it to grow.