Craft Revitalization Action for Futureproofing the Transition to Innovative Technologies for Sustainable Development

Project Information

CRAFT-IT4SD

Grant agreement ID: 101132596

DOI

10.3030/101132596

EC signature date 30 October 2023

Start date 1 January 2024

End date 31 December 2026

Funded under

• Culture, creativity and inclusive society

Total cost

€ 3 924 757,99

EU contribution

€ 3 911 959,99

Coordinated by

AARHUS UNIVERSITET
Denmark

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - CRAFT-IT4SD (Craft Revitalization Action for Futureproofing the Transition to Innovative Technologies for Sustainable Development)

Reporting period: 2024-01-01 to 2025-06-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

CRAFT-IT4SD (Craft Revitalization Action for Future-proofing the Transition to Innovative Technologies for Sustainable Development) aims to enhance the CCSI as drivers for the green transition. Through SSH, we build on the rich cultural heritage, craft legacies and creative and design traditions of the European CCSI. We revitalize traditional techniques as shared cultural resources for sustainability and explore cross-innovation through an ecosystem approach with sustainable resourcing, sufficiency economies, new business models, and local resilience at the core. This is tested across the four CRAFT-IT4SD pilots (DK, ES, FI, RO), in a multi-helix approach across regional governance, public private partnerships, living labs, learning communities, and consumer-engagement.

CRAFT-IT4SD facilitates co-creation between traditional crafts, the fashion and textile industry, SMEs and micro companies; we work with local designers, artisans, and artists when testing and innovating with digital tools and platforms, and immersive technologies.

CRAFT-IT4SD holds the ambition to replicate insights, learnings and tangible results leading to a CCSI-driven green transition – informed by results from the EIT CLIMATE KIC and inspired by the New European Bauhaus – in other CCSI ecosystems and thus to contribute to the EIT Culture and Creativity KIC, across its Co-location Centers.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

In this first RP, CRAFT-IT4SD has advanced significantly in testing its ecosystem approach, in underpinning methodologies and providing analysis of ecosystem dynamics.

Our ecosystem and design approach leverages co-creation and cross-innovation across ecosystems. Our pilot ecosystems are living labs for experimentation, R & I, and provide expertise, knowledge, and practice to be shared, realising our objectives for a CCSI-driven green transition.

The first pilot iterations shows potentials for impactful cross-innovation:
• when revitalizing local craft legacies and immaterial heritage
• when applying and testing digital tools, services, and platforms with designers, artists, SMEs and micro companies
• when applying data and LCA towards new sustainable business models
• when applying artistic, performative and creative approaches through immersive technologies

Through extensive site visits in pilot ecosystems, CRAFT-IT4SD connects between EU ethics, policy and legal frameworks and how they are supported in regional ecosystems. This provides the basis for good policy recommendations, and for bringing a culture and creativity driven approach to European research and innovation for the Green Transition.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

CRAFT-IT4SD goes beyond the state of art by merging siloed CCSI sectors and articulate a holistic ecosystem approach, bridging past, present and future design and production opportunities. We combine, in experimental and iterative ways, traditional techniques, skills and materials with emerging digital technologies, immersive media and data analytics.

CRAFT-IT4SD demonstrates strong potential impacts in the areas of educational innovation, advanced through the integration of traditional crafts with digital tools, offering new approaches to sustainability education, and lifelong learning across CCSI-sectors and beyond. Cultural preservation has been supported by revitalizing heritage techniques, underpinning circular economy principles, the reuse of materials and inclusive,intergenerational community engagement. The use of NFC tags and digital platforms shows promise in enhancing transparency and storytelling in sustainable fashion.

To ensure further uptake, several key needs have been identified:
• Continued research and validation to expand pilot testing and explore long-term effects of digital storytelling and gamification.
• Access to markets and finance for supporting local entrepreneurs and scaling sustainable craft-tech products.
• Commercialization and IP support to protect and monetise innovations.
• Internationalization efforts to further the project’s objectives by fostering cross-border collaboration and increasing visibility in global sustainability networks.

Finally, alignment with regulatory and standardization frameworks is essential to support the adoption of smart textiles, good data standards, valid and transparent dataflows for digital product passports, and sustainable materials in line with EU policies.

Presentation of the TUASI Easter Egg Collection: craft inspired, capsule collection with 3D-printing

CRAFT-IT4SD Consortium at Kickoff meeting in Herning, VIA UC, DK

Visiting company Aldo Martin, MODACC Catalan pilot, Igualada

Experimentation with fish leather in Northern Finland pilot

Experimentation with fabric, Via University College, Herning pilot