Boris Meggiorin
On behalf of the innovation agency Conexiones Improbables (Spain) I contributed to the production of two cycles of international events to define the role of cross-sectoral innovation in different sectors of the economy and the society. These events in 2021 and 2024 were produced in the frame of the New European Bauhaus, the interdisciplinary platform for innovation and sustainability of the European Commission.
“Territorial Cooperation Fostering European Integration: Cities and Regions Linking across Borders” was the title of the first congress of Smart Cooperation taking place in A Coruña (Spain) in 2012.
My role was to support the organisation and the logistics of the event. More than 400 delegates from all over Europe enjoyed the knowledge sharing and networking programme on how to improve practices for effective cooperation between public authorities.
https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/fr/newsroom/events/2012/06/1st-congress-on-smart-cooperation
http://www.espaces-transfrontaliers.org/en/the-mot/evenements/first-congress-on-smart-cooperation/
“Crafting the future” was the theme of the conference, which focused on designers’ practical knowledge. How can the specific knowledge of designers be brought forward, articulated, made visible, and be understood and used in contexts like innovation, business development and social change?
The main hosting organisation, the University of Gothenburg (Sweden), hired TILLT, the innovation agency where I was working in 2013.
As part of the team taking care of international relations, my role was to support the action conceived by TILLT to promote the networking and the reflection of the delegates from all over Europe.
During the Gala Dinner, each table had a box with everyday household materials (such as sponges, tape, thread…) and the delegates sitting at the same table were asked to create, during the meal, a collaborative sculpture by using the objects provided and by representing their common feature.
In a night that was dedicated to the hybrid nature of each human, it was the perfect scheme to make the designers engage in a conversation about commonalities and roots.