STEAMProcess has the ambition to foster disruptive innovation for research and science, by promoting the use of artistic soft-skills in science/tech education and practice. In particular the project wants to: 1) Encourage programmes for skills development and lifelong learning to include a clear component for culture and creativity. It is crucial to assess the actual use and impact of the projects funded in the frame of programmes, such as Erasmus+, that are promoting the transition from STEM to STEAM training. 2) Support programmes integrating the arts into STEM curricula as well as cross-sectorial projects blending the arts with STEM disciplines. The studio and the laboratory are learn-by-doing, learn-by-making educational experiences. The iterative process and experimentation are key components to advances and discoveries in both fields. Artists, designers, and scientists alike are utilizing data in new and interesting ways to inform their practices and affect positive change. Productive cross-disciplinary collaborations are being formed in both the academy and in the workplace. 3) The development of a Cultural and Creative Sector literacy policy, for example through an own-initiative report or via a pilot project/preparatory action. Such literacy policy would help to stimulate the interest and demand for European cultural diversity, as well as stimulate creative thinking across EU citizens, in particular, focused on specific policy issues. Art school students and graduates are also having a huge impact on social innovation by bringing to light and helping to solve important global issues. Architects and designers have a unique and ethical responsibility to develop, for example, environmentally creative solutions. And artists play an increasingly significant role in addressing societal challenges as many shift toward work that is collaborative and community-based. Project Objectives: General objective Fostering cross-fertilization between technical/scientific skills and artistic/humanistic skills through the creation of innovative training materials and teaching supporting tools. Specific objectives: 1 - Identification of a skills frame characterizing the most innovative subjects in the arts/science cross-fertilization field 2- Creation of a replicable methodology supported by gamification, aimed at integrating artistic and creative skills with technological skills, stimulating new forms of entrepreneurship and facilitating the formation of diverse teams giving birth to innovative projects 3- Solidification of common experience and best practices to promote STEAM cross-fertilization in a cohesive way across the European Union Project Products Intellectual Output 1 – Art Skills Framework The objective of IO1 is to create the framework of the A (Art) Skills, the soft skills that are typical of artistic processes. In the general perspective of introducing the variable A in the STEM processes, it is, in fact, necessary to define the added value that artists can bring to the STEM sectors in terms of soft skills (e.g. the ability to think out of the box, the ability to manage unknowns, the ability to establish an empathic relationship with heterogeneous contexts, etc.). Intellectual Output 2 – STEAM Methodology Skills Framework The aim of the IO2 is the development of a methodology aimed at designing an innovative response to an economic or social challenge through cross-fertilization. The methodology stems from the hackathon methodology (challenge, limited time, competition between teams), including the letter "A" of arts among the STEM competencies: from STEM to STEAM. The main features of the methodology make it a useful tool not only with toward its primary purpose - i.e. the generation of ideas and solutions from a specific need - but also from an educational point of view: the challenge favours teamworking, stimulating participants to collaborate with people often unknown, or coming from fields of study or professions far from their own; the limited time favours problem-solving: as reported in the literature on creative thinking (see for example Edward De Bono), the more the human mind is stressed by constraints the more lateral thinking is activated. Intellectual Output 3 – STEAMProcess Game The objective of IO3 is the creation of an original and engaging educational tool for the training of students and STEM professionals in Artistic Skills, in order to stimulate a STEAM approach to research and design. Through a gamification process, the methodology developed during IO2 will be "translated" into a game aimed at training the creative and artistic skills of professionals and students in the scientific sector.
The project aimed at raising awareness, understanding and practical skills to the role of arts and culture in any STEM-based activity – and to be understood as part of understanding our world in a more holistic way. It aimed to draw inspiration from the historical perspectives to arts & science as equally important ways to explain and understand the world, looking for instance at ancient masters like Leonardo da Vinci or Pythagoras, who both were both scientists/engineers/mathematicians, but also artists. The project hence also aimed at widening the current political debate for supporting CCI as a means to add competitiveness to other sectors into a more holistic understanding of the added value into the roots of innovation and understanding our world from different perspectives, and in different ways. In practice, the project wanted to “draw” a wider understanding of the role of arts and culture as part of education in different fields, but also to produce concrete and practical example of how any teacher, trainer, researcher or student/lifelong learner could establish a relation to arts and cultural understanding and learning.
There is a current and quickly emerging need for strengthened professional skills in today’s operating environment, that leans strongly not only on fast technological advances, but increasingly on skills on creativity, innovation as well as creative soft skills and the competences to work across sectors and disciplines and co-create. Our current focus on science and technology are equally visible in education and curricula, which much stress the traditional STEM fields, while the role of arts and culture as part of most education programs is rather decreasing than increasing. This project was hence built to stimulate crossover innovation, reduce the next generation’s skills gap and prepare the professionals of tomorrow. Artists, designers, and writers provide new insights and perspectives that can sow the seeds of scientific progress. Innovation is not the exclusive domain of scientists, programmers, and engineers. Companies and organizations that have traditionally looked to large research universities for talent are now looking for artists and designers—creative people who will bring to the workplace unique problem-solving skills, entrepreneurial spirit, and a deep understanding of the user experience.