16-11-2006

A consortium, which includes thirteen partners from Western and Eastern Europe and is coordinated by UvA Professor Sako Musterd, will evaluate the chances of their selected city regions to develop as "creative knowledge regions " and improve their economic profiles. This theory and policy-oriented study is supported by "local partnerships", which include both policy-makers and members of the related business community and constitute a European Council of Policy-makers and Creative and Knowledge Experts.

In the coming four years an international consortium, coordinated by Professor Sako Musterd (University of Amsterdam), will be carrying out a study on creative knowledge and competitiveness of European metropolitan regions. The main objective is to assess the impact of the emerging "creative class" and the rise of "creative industries" on the competitiveness of different types of metropolitan regions within the enlarged Union.

The list of case studies does not include obvious success stories like London or Paris. The aim is to find out if and how ordinary European cities, in the East and in the West, in the North and in the South can be competitive in the field of creative knowledge and to discover the factors that promote and/or prevent success in this respect. In particular the focus is on the factors determining success, the difficulties that city regions experience in becoming successful as well as the ways to overcome these difficulties.

Among the 13 case studies are:

The most important topic to consider is which metropolitan regions have the best chances to develop as "creative knowledge regions".

It is not by chance that the project was initiated in Amsterdam, where at different levels considerable efforts have been put in to promote creativity and enhance the economic profile of the city. The Amsterdam research team, as well as the other twelve local teams, are working in close collaboration with Local Councils of Experts – people from business or policy-makers, related to this topic. This makes the research practically oriented and attractive for local authorities and business communities.

The project is financed by the European Commission within the Sixth Framework Programme with a budget of 4,5 million euros.

Sako Musterd, the leader of the project is Professor of Social Geography at the Amsterdam institute for Metropolitan and International Development studies (Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, University of Amsterdam.