By Martha Moss - 21st April 2009
This crisis is very expensive and we shouldn't waste it - creativity and innovation are the qualities to overcome the crisis faster and smoother
Education commissioner Jan Figel'
Europe must focus on fostering creativity in order to tackle the economic crisis, according to education commissioner Jan Figel'.
Speaking at a Committee of the Regions event marking the European year of innovation and creativity, the commissioner said it was important to promote creativity for individuals and for the community.
He told the audience, which included 100 young people from various European regions visiting to showcase their work, that the economic crisis was at the top of the agenda.
"When I introduced the idea [of the European year of innovation and creativity] there was no crisis," he said.
"We had rather a good situation. This crisis is very expensive and we shouldn't waste it - creativity and innovation are the qualities to overcome the crisis faster and smoother."
The post-recession world will be even more competitive, said Figel', and he argued that "winners are those who invest today".
Speaking at the same debate, Karlheinz Brandenburg, a German professor and researcher in information and communication technologies, said, "We have to know more than just one area of science to be able to transfer ideas from one area to others. That will help us to be innovative.
Damini Kumar, a designer and inventor in Ireland, added, "I think it's absolutely crucial to enhance creativity and innovation in young people because they will carry that with them for the rest of their lives.
"It doesn't matter what career they go into - they don't need to go into the arts and sciences to be creative."
Hungarian Committee of the Regions (CoR) member András Szalay said regions must help develop creative potential.
"Education is crucial in encouraging creativity," he said. "It must not be restricted to so-called creative subjects."
Committee of the Regions president Luc Van den Brande later told reporters that the 100 young talented Europeans would be in the hemicycle for the CoR plenary session.
"More than ever we have to give room to all creativity," he said.
"More than ever we need creativity [and] imagination, which can contribute to overcoming the crisis."
Van den Brande spoke of the need to take an "anti-cyclical approach and urge people to be creative".
There are several opinions focusing on the economic crisis to be addressed at the two-day CoR plenary in Brussels.
"It is important that in the current economic crisis all levels of responsibility have to contribute," said Van den Brande.
"We have to be aware of the social ramifications of the economic crisis."
