❓ ʜᴏᴡ ᴅᴏ ᴡᴇ ᴀᴅᴅʀᴇꜱꜱ ᴄʜᴀʟʟᴇɴɢᴇꜱ ꜱᴜᴄʜ ᴀꜱ ᴇᴜ ꜱᴜꜱᴛᴀɪɴᴀʙʟᴇ ᴀɴᴅ ꜱᴏᴄɪᴀʟ ɪɴɴᴏᴠᴀᴛɪᴏɴ ❓
This topic is close to the heart of Jokin Garatea, the international manager of our partner Cluster GAIA in Bilbao, Spain. In a workshop during the OpenLivingLab Days 2024 (OpenLivingLab Days 2025) entitled ‘Harnessing Culture & Creativity for EU Sustainability and Social Innovation,’ Jokin exchanged ideas with experts on this topic.
The main idea was to continue working on best practices in the ENoLL (European Network of Living Labs) working group of cultural and creative industries and discuss how these can act as drivers for societal challenges, with a focus on environmental issues.
This roundtable where Jokin paricipated aimed to showcase the crucial role of Living Labs within the culture & creativity sectors in implementing EU policies goals and related to sustainability, circular economy, and biodiversity, among other (non-exhaustive list). By bringing together various stakeholders, it seeks to explore how culture and creativity, together with art and artists, can serve as catalysts for transformative participatory practices, fostering democratic values and social inclusion – leading to innovative solutions and creative models for systemic change.
💡 For Jokin, the conclusion was relatively clear: ‘𝑶𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒍𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒍𝒖𝒅𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒑. 𝑺𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒂𝒏 𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒏 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒋𝒐𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒑. 𝑾𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑬𝑵𝒐𝑳𝑳 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍.’ 💡
About Jokin Garatea
International Business Director of International projects I GAIA. He is an expert on dissemination and exploitation plans. Has participated in more than 80 EU projects. Member of different European networks (ENoLL, Greenovate Europe, EIIT culture KIC), promoter and evaluator of Living Labs, coordinator of the Basque District of Culture and Creativity Vice-president of Ocean Living Lab for promotion and technological innovation of water-related culture and sport activities in a preserved environment of Urdaibai.
Jokin is counsellor for sustainability in the municipality of Forua, at the Reserve of the biosphere of Urdaibai. Its cultural and natural heritage is critical to be maintained through innovative projects. Jokin has a Law Degree, from Deusto University, Spain, a MSc in CSR in Football Clubs and is a PhD candidate in Industrial Psychology.
About ENOLL
The European Network of Living Labs iVZW (ENoLL) is an international non-profit association, which aims to promote and enhance user-driven innovation ecosystems, more precise the Living Labs concept globally. ENoLL focuses on facilitating knowledge exchange, joint actions, and project partnerships among its historically labelled +480 members, advocating for and promoting EU policies, promoting Living Labs and enabling their implementation worldwide.
