The role of the Arts and Humanities as a driver of innovation in the creative economy is now firmly recognised. It is a role that has only strengthened in the last decade with the broadening of research and entrepreneurial interests in academia, and the increasing importance of the UK creative economy as a whole. The four AHRC Knowledge Exchange Hubs operated between 2012 and 2016. Their aim: to drive new collaborative partnerships between academia and creative businesses. What did the Hubs learn about collaboration beyond academia?

Over a three year period as a Knowledge Exchange Fellow for the AHRC, I worked to identify, understand, and document the cross-sector collaborative activities of the four AHRC Hubs. The Hubs – REACT, Design in Action, The Creative Exchange, Creativeworks London – each developed their own approach to nurturing innovative partnerships. Each came to understand the enormous commitment tied to programming collaborative work, fostering new collaborative cultures, and delivering on values of creativity that sit uneasily with an economic growth and job-creation agenda. My three main reports address as follows: 1) the rich potential for arts and humanities-led work in the creative economy when understood as part of a wider and multi-disciplinary family; 2) the emergence of a common, but highly flexible, framework for programming creative economy innovation; 3) the potential of the Creative Hub model as an interface that can actively gear universities and the creative economy together. This research led to a model of Open Ecosystem Innovation and the Dementia Connect project – an innovation programme for Dementia, Arts, and Health.

Publications

Senior, T. J. (2018a) Report 1: The Arts & Humanities in the Creative Economy

Senior, T. J. (2018b) Report 2: A Framework for University-led Creative Economy Innovation

Senior, T. J. (2018c) Report 3: The Hub as  Organisational Model in the Creative Economy

Senior, T. J. (2016a) Connecting to Innovate: A Preliminary Report (Report for AHRC)

Senior, TJ. (2016b) The Arts and Humanities in the Internet of Things. (REACT Working paper)

Fricker C., Senior TJ. (2015) The Humanities Economy. Common Knowledge 21(3), pp. 373-378