European Comission Technologies and scientific foundations in the field of creativity

1. Technologies and scientific foundations in
the field of creativity
Objective 8.1 of WP2013
Ghent, 7-8 November 2012
Albert GAUTHIER (DG Connect, Unit G2: CREATIVITY)

2. General background
Cultural and creative industries
• are a powerful motor for jobs, growth, exports and
earnings, cultural diversity and social inclusion
• represent 4.5% of total European GDP and
accounting for 3.8% of the workforce (2010)
• need to be more productive, innovative and
dynamic in responding to the changing market
needs
• diversified – each segment has its specificity
• for the definition of CCI see the KEA delineation:
• http://ec.europa.eu/culture/pdf/doc885_en.pdf

3. Objective 8.1
Target outcomes:
a) creative experience tools
b) intelligent computational environments stimulating
and enhancing human creativity
c) progress towards formal understanding of creativity
through the development of autonomous systems
d) roadmaps for research and innovation

4. Target outcome 8.1.a)
Target outcome (a)
 Creative experience tools…
…that make use of all our senses and allow for
richer, more collaborative and interactive
experiences…
 …for the creative and cultural industries
STREP/IP

5. Target outcome 8.1.a)
Interactive experience
Technologies that could be used:
• real time simulation, visualisation
• augmented reality
• 3D animation
• visual computing
• games engines
• immersive experiences
• …

6. Target outcome 8.1.a)
Creative experience tools
for the creative industry
The tools created should be
• cost effective, with special attention to users
like SMEs and individual creators
• intuitive
• be demonstrated in real environments for the
creative and cultural industries

7. Target outcome 8.1.a)
Expected impact for a)
Research activities will contribute to
• Improved efficiency of creative processes by two fold
at least as regards time and resource investment,
and quality of output
• Equipping different industries with more effective
creative tools
• Expanding the potential of technology in the human
creative processes

8. Target outcome 8.1.a)
Cultural and Creative Industries
Which kinds of industries?
• advertising, • fashion
• publishing • films, music
• architecture, • video games
• arts, crafts, • TV, radio
• design • …

9. Target outcome 8.1.b)
Target outcome b)
• Intelligent computational environments
stimulating and enhancing human
creativity
STREP

10. Target outcome 8.1.b)
Important points for b)
• Multi-disciplinary research: it is possible to start from
different paradigms, but ensure expertise on creativity in the
consortium
• Address domain-specific skills in work-related contexts
• Operational definition of creativity needs to be provided;
specify how the insights will feed back into the system
• Measuring human creative performance means that metrics
are needed

11. Target outcome 8.1.b)
Expected impact for b)
• Better understanding of the potential of
technology in human creative processes
leading to enhanced domain-specific human
creative performance

12. Target outcome 8.1.c)
Target outcome c)
• Progress towards formal understanding
of creativity
• Autonomous creative systems
STREP

13. Target outcome 8.1.c)
Deeper understanding of creativity
• There is no consolidated and consistent 'Science of
Creativity' (various disciplines study it from different
angles)
• Computational Creativity offers great potential for
studying and better understanding creativity
• Producing autonomously creative systems is an
ambitious research challenge
• The difficulty of measuring and evaluating creativity
raises additional methodological challenges

14. Target outcome 8.1.c)
The objective addresses the need to
- Achieve a better understanding of creativity and the way
it can be technologically achieved
Research should be multi-disciplinary and may involve such
disciplines as:
- AI - Cognitive science
- Sociology - Arts (including
- Psychology performing arts)
- Neuroscience - Robotics

15. Target outcome 8.1.c)
Important points for c)
- Rising above the level of pastiche (mimicry); human-
level creativity;
- Technological development in itself is not sufficient;
the proposals need to demonstrate that there will be
a possibility to learn something of human creativity

16. Target outcome 8.1.c)
Expected impact for c)
- Deeper scientific understanding of creativity
- Fostering the synergy between understanding and
enhancing human creativity
- New technologies for autonomous creative systems

17. Target outcome 8.1.d)
Target outcome d)
• roadmaps for future research and innovation
CSA

18. Target outcome 8.1.d)
Roadmaps
• proposals should target cross- and inter-cluster
support activities
• boosting creative competitiveness in sectors such as
advertising, architecture, arts, crafts, design, fashion,
films, music, publishing, video games, TV and radio

19. Target outcome 8.1.d)
Important points for d)
• More exchange and interaction in CI-s (for CI-s) and
between research and industry
• Identifying trends, developments and needs as
guidance for informed policy-making (for the
Commission)
• Medium-term and longer-term perspectives (upcoming
Horizon 2020)

20. Target outcome 8.1.d)
Expected impact for d)
• Better coordination of European and
national efforts, closer dialogue between
research and industry, better understanding
of user requirements, more innovation and
technology uptake

21. Call: FP7-ICT-2013-10
Overall budget for Objective 8.1 :
a) and b): EUR 32 million, with a minimum of 40% for
IPs and 30% for STREPs
c): EUR 10 million
d): EUR 1 million
Deadline for submissions:
15 January 2013

22. Tips for proposers

23. If you want to fail, then…
• Ignore the text of the work programme
• Ignore on-going work (not only in EU projects)
• Window-dress the partnership
• Describe your solution and end product in great detail – but omit
to state which problem your project will address and where the
research challenges are
• Produce a proposal that tries to do everything and loses
credibility. Often less is more.
• Ignore the evaluation criteria when drafting your proposal (T&S
excellence, implementation and impact)

24. When preparing the proposal…
• Describe the specific state of the art with referenced evidence, as well
as the technical baseline, and expected advancements against which
progress can be measured
• Check the timelines and anticipated outputs of on-going research in
defining your starting point and the advances you will make – don’t
replicate existing work
• Adopt a scientifically sound approach to involving users in the
research, including to the assessment and validation necessary to build
the evidence of impact

25. When preparing the proposal…
• Do justice to the multi-disciplinary nature of the areas –
ensure the expertise and the roles are balanced and
appropriate
• Find the right partners – scientific expertise, IT providers,
end users...
• Provide efficient management – authority and competence
to handle both administrative and scientific/technical
leadership

26. Critical questions you should ask yourselves
• How far is the problem you intend to address being already
tackled?
• Is the proposal offering different and innovative insights into
an existing problem or addressing a new problem?
• Which communities are likely to benefit from the project / how
are they being brought into the discussion?
• What are the substantive benefits of the impact of the project?
• What are the potential risks and how are they tackled?

27. In conclusion
• Don’t submit if your proposal does not fully match the selected
target outcome
• Don’t replicate ongoing work
• Don’t recycle
• Multiple submissions: It is not the number that will make you
successful – but the quality of the research and the partners

28. Further Information - Contacts
• Contacts:
• target outcomes (a) (b) (c) (d):
albert.gauthier@ec.europa.eu(G2 – Creativity)
• target outcome (c):
walter.van-de-velde@ec.europa.eu (C2 - FET)
• More information:
http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/creativity/creativity-calls_en.html

29. Now it is your turn…
Thank you for
your attention!
Questions are welcome