The Gdańsk Entrepreneurs’ Foundation together with the Gdańsk City Council are taking part in the international project “Development and Support of Potential of Creative Industries in Cities in Central Europe”. This project is financed by the European Regional Development Fund and aims to use the potential of creative industries cluster to make cities taking part in this project [Gdańsk (PL), Genoa (IT), Leipzig (DE), Ljubjana (SI) and Pécs (HU)] more attractive and competitive.

Within the Creative Cities Project five mentioned above cities have been working together in order to establish regional cooperation in the creative industry branch. Project’s Partners have created an European force field along a North-South axis having a variety of economic and natural capabilities and similarities of competitive advantage within the global competition.

The main aim of the project is establishing a transnational network of creative industry clusters of major Central European cities. More specifically, Creative Cities aims to:

• improve framework conditions and to initialize creative industry clusters

• promote entrepreneurial skills and competitiveness of creative industries, creating positive climate attracting different investments and exchanging know how

• improve their external visibility through transnational marketing and networking

• exploit potentials in the development of decayed urban areas through the allocation of creative industries in those city districts.

The project is promoted by five local public authorities, who have the political competences to integrate project results into local plans and strategies, and their local partners, who have the capacities to reach out to creative industry actors. Together, they combine professional know-how and suitable structures to improve framework conditions for the sustainable promotion of creative industries. Besides the elaboration of recommendations for other cities and contributions to political policy debates, main activities of CREATIVE CITIES are the elaboration and testing of transnational cluster marketing tools, the promotion of creative clusters’ competitiveness and the creation of qualified cluster Contact Points. Working together in a transnational cooperation project, the participating cities have the opportunity to elaborate new solutions jointly based on knowledge and experiences available in the different participating countries through the different activities.

For more information about Creative Cities project visit: http://www.creativecitiesproject.eu/en/index.shtml