Developing creative industries in Turku

The CoC held its annual working session in Turku on 22-25 October. The history of the city dates back to 1229, which makes Turku the oldest city of Finland. Turku is often said to be the only medieval European town in Finland, since all medieval European towns have four things in common: a river for transport, a cathedral for religious power, a castle that represents the secular power and a marketplace fortrading.Turku has them all!

The theme of the working session was the Cultural Dimension of Baltic Cooperation - Developing Creative Industries. The participants had an overview of creative industries in Turku region presented by director Kalle Euro from Turku Region Development Center. Professor Alf Rehn from Åbo Akademi University gave a speech about Remastering the Creative City-on Innovative Infrastructures and Embedded Creativity. Planner Päivi Rytsäs' (Centre for Cultural Entrepreneurship) topic was Creative Sector Incubator in Turku. The aim of the centre is to support and help early-stage growth companies in the Southwest Finland. Additionally, Turku Design now! group, the Culture Card, the Turku Library and the Baltic cooperation of Turku cultural services were also discussed during the session.

Turku has been elected to the European Capital of Culture 2011. The participants of the annual working session could see that the Cultural Capital year being shared with Tallinn, illustrates the strong position that culture and history hold in Turku.