A collection of useful publications & tools

The impact of coworking spaces on coworkers' well-being and skills' development

This document, developed by UrbanCo-WORK and with the collaboration of ECHN, aims at investigating the emergence and wider impacts of collaborative workspaces (CWS) in critical urban studies and economic geography perspective, through three interrelated scientific objectives.
The first one is to provide a better understanding of the emergence and variations of CWS in the context of rising social and economic challenges in different institutional, political and cultural contexts;
the second is to critically analyze the impact of such projects for their participants/users and for urban/neighbourhood development processes;
and the third and last, to facilitate transnational learning and replication of social and cultural innovation in the context of co-production, extrapolating new knowledge and practices to co-working in the Greek context and other aspects of urban governance.
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Ideation Session #1
Do you know how to assess your impact?

The Ideation Sessions is a new series of working sessions initiated among the community of the European Creative Hubs Network (ECHN). The Ideation Sessions aim to create a space to exchange knowledge with our peers and get inspired by the best practices in our hubs.

This report is the compilation of the process of the first working session on the topic “Do you know (how to assess) your impact?”.

The goal of this session was to bring up new dimensions of the creative hub’s impact (locally and wider), and reflect together on the generated value to, maybe in the future, find some standards on this subject for hybrid creative spaces.

Co-hosted by Marina Mussapi (Base), Vittoria Brolis (Basis), Michael Schuster (Basis), and Jeanne Fené (ECHN) this online session was held in order to exchange and work around the following questions: How can we assess our value and the value we generate at a local and wider level? What kind of impact areas can be relevant? How can we measure it? To whom we would like to address it?

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Creative Hubkit

Creative Hubkit – Made by hubs for emerging hubs The Creative HubKit is a free toolkit for people looking to set up a hub. It is made up of best practice examples, helpful experiences and tried and tested approaches from some of the most successful hubs in the UK and Europe.


This HubKit aims to illustrate some of the experiences and approaches from those building successful and sustainable hubs. Hubs cannot simply be a response to a space opportunity but need their community at the forefront. The HubKit explains why engaging with your community of users from the start can lead to a much more holistic and sustainable model (refer to pp.2 in the Creative HubKit). Creative Edinburgh and Creative Dundee were commissioned to develop the Creative HubKit, a toolkit for people looking to: set up their own hub; diversify their existing hub; or understand the hub movement from an outside perspective. Whether you are considering setting up a new creative hub, are a hub manager who is looking for an alternative business model, or are a funder who is exploring the different financial structures of hubs; the HubKit will give you insights into how creative hubs are formed, structured and sustained (refer to pp.3 in the Creative HubKit) Anyone who runs a hub (refer to pp.4-5 in the Creative HubKit for a definition of creative hubs) will understand how complex the role is and how ever-changing the business model can be, each being as unique as fingerprints. The Creative HubKit aims to give you the tools to help you work through the design and purpose of your own hub while understanding the invaluable nature that your community plays in its success.
Made by hubs for emerging hubs, the Creative HubKit also includes helpful case studies from Watershed, CodeBase, Baltic Creative, FuseBox, Hackney WickED,Impact Hub Birmingham, Cardiff Start and Residence, with European examples from Factoria Cultural and FabLab Lisboa.
Developed by Creative Edinburgh & Creative Dundee Commissioned by the British Council Supported by Creative England Designed by Martin Baillie

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Creative Hubs Barometer 2017 - Capturing the profile and evolution of creative hubs throughout Europe

The Creative Hubs Barometer 2017 is an output of the European Creative Hubs Network (ECHN) project, co-funded by the European Union’s Creative Europe programme and led by the British Council in partnership with 7 organisations. The Barometer is a pilot study aiming to map and describe the creative hubs (sub-)sector in Europe. It has been commissioned by the British Council, and developed in collaboration with ECBN.


The Barometer is based on a self-assessment feedback targeted at creative hub managers in order to know more about trends in their sector, to better advocate for it, and to better understand where their hub fits in the creative economy.This Barometer is not only taking a picture of the state of creative hubs in Europe, but is fundamentally a reflection exercise that can hopefully lead to asking the right questions and taking the right actions for the sustainability and success of the hubs and the cultural and creative industries.

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European Creative Hubs Network Workshop #1 Toolkit (Madrid)

European Creative Hubs Network has designed a series of 3 workshops hosted by the project partners – Factoria Cultural, betahaus Berlin, and Creative Edinburgh, with help from the British Council – in 2017. Each workshop targeted a slightly different audience, from hub leaders who are at the beginning of their creative hub managing career to those who have extensive experience and are ready to set the next trend in the creative hub world. The Skills Diary for Creative Hub Leaders, developed by the British Council together with SNOOK, collects learning outcomes from the 3 workshops, and provides an open access for the whole creative hubs network.
This toolkit builds on the European Creative Hubs Skills Workshop organised in Madrid on 22-23 March 2017 by Factoria Cultural. The ‘How to Set Up a Creative Hub’ workshop was hosted by Factoria Cultural. It contains testimonials of 30 hub leaders who participated in the event.
If you are interested in using or distributing the toolkit, please contact us beforehand: info@creativehubs.net
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European Creative Hubs Network Workshop #2 Toolkit (Berlin)

European Creative Hubs Network has designed a series of 3 workshops hosted by the project partners – Factoria Cultural, betahaus Berlin, and Creative Edinburgh, with help from the British Council – in 2017. Each workshop targeted a slightly different audience, from hub leaders who are at the beginning of their creative hub managing career to those who have extensive experience and are ready to set the next trend in the creative hub world. The Skills Diary for Creative Hub Leaders, developed by the British Council together with SNOOK, collects learning outcomes from the 3 workshops, and provides an open access for the whole creative hubs network.
This toolkit builds on the European Creative Hubs Skills Workshop organised in Berlin on 7 – 8 June 2017 by betahaus. The How to be a Hub Superhero workshop was hosted by betahaus Berlin together with Jörn Hendrik Ast, the founder of Berlin-based start-up Superheldentraining GbR (Superhero training). It contains testimonials of 30 hub leaders who participated in the event.
If you are interested in using or distributing the toolkit, please contact us beforehand: info@creativehubs.net
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European Creative Hubs Network Workshop #3 Toolkit (Edinburgh)

European Creative Hubs Network has designed a series of 3 workshops hosted by the project partners – Factoria Cultural, betahaus Berlin, and Creative Edinburgh, with help from the British Council – in 2017. Each workshop targeted a slightly different audience, from hub leaders who are at the beginning of their creative hub managing career to those who have extensive experience and are ready to set the next trend in the creative hub world. The Skills Diary for Creative Hub Leaders, developed by the British Council together with SNOOK, collects learning outcomes from the 3 workshops, and provides an open access for the whole creative hubs network. This toolkit builds on the European Creative Hubs Skills Workshop organised in Edinburgh on 26-27 October 2017 by Creative Edinburgh. This toolkit contains testimonials of 30 hub leaders who participated in the event. If you are interested in using or distributing the toolkit, please contact us beforehand: info@creativehubs.net
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ECHN Trade Magazine

Creative hub leaders are a new ‘profession’, a new trade, but are not always recognised as such. Creative hubs are creating new forms of leadership using collaborative, bottom-up, interdisciplinary, and community-focussed approaches. They have a completely different skill set and understanding than more traditional forms of institutions. The first Creative Hubs Leaders Magazine is a pilot publication, with a dream to become a shared and co-owned multimedia magazine for Creative Hubs Leaders everywhere. Not just one magazine, but a kiosk where YOU, Creative Hubs leaders, can access and share curated stories, data, and information that is useful for your work, members and communities.
This first edition captures ideas and stories of the ECHN community, collected through interviews and conversations, at the 1st and 2nd European Creative Hubs Fora, and in online interactions. The next edition will be powered and created by a European community of hub leaders. Please get in touch with your stories, ideas and feedback!
This magazine has been prepared as part of the European Creative hubs Network project, co-funded by the EU’s Creative Europe programme. It has been developed by the British Council together with Open°, an open-source platform and global meeting place for hub-makers.
http://trademagazine.creativehubs.eu/
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How Work Works – An inventory of effects

How Work Works – An inventory of events is a collection of 6 critical texts that focus on the shifting paradigm of work and creativity. This publication traces the emergence and evolution of co-working, and pins creativity as an underlying factor to the way we think and work.
The publication was produced by the Belgrade based creative hub and design incubator Nova Iskra/Kulturni Kod, with the occasion of the European Creative Hubs Forum in Belgrade, which took place on 22-24 September 2016. The three-day international forum gathered more than 100 hub organisations from across Europe, Serbia and the region. You can read more about the How Work Works Forum here and here.
The print version of this collection has been distributed to participants at the Forum in Belgrade, and we would like to share it further with the creative hubs community and its ecology. Therefore the European Creative Hubs Network is pleased to be able to make the How Work Works – An inventory of effects publication available online.

The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. The statements, reflections and opinions contained in this publication are solely those of the individual authors of texts and visual contributions, and do not necessarily reflect those of the editors or the publisher.
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syn | acting together

syn- acting together is a collection of 7 critical texts investigating the concrete and potential effect creative hubs can have on the economy, at local and global level. It does so by presenting texts which focus on the creative hubs seen from an analytical and academic point of view, from the perspective of the creator and artist, and from that of a policy maker. They all touch upon elements of creativity, youth unemployment, government policies, and generally the phenomenon of creative hubs.
The publication was produced by the first hub for creative industries in Athens, Bios-Romantso, with the occasion of the European Creative Hubs Forum in Athens, which took place on 26-28 January 2017. The three-day international forum gathered more than 100 hub organisations from across Europe, and the region. You can read more about the Syn- Forum here.

The print version of this collection has been distributed to participants at the Forum in Athens, and we would like to share it further with the creative hubs community and its ecology. Therefore the European Creative Hubs Network is pleased to be able to make the syn- acting together publication available online. The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. The statements, reflections and opinions contained in this publication are solely those of the individual authors of texts and visual contributions, and do not necessarily reflect those of the editors or the publisher.
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Creative Hubs in EU funding

Navigating EU access to finance and grants opportunities for Creative Hubs. How European Programmes support them to realize their ideas and boost the creative economy. Focus on the Creative Europe programme as well as on other EU funding programmes.

Facilitator:
Barbara Stacher, European Commission
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Going Further of being just a space-Talent management

Creative hubs have started to be acknowledged as emerging talent pools of our century. So how could we all systematically discover, map and approach talents in our creative hubs and promote them better by gaining mutual benefit? Let’s come together around a table and discuss the main points & best practices.

Facilitators:
Lorene Garcia, MOB & Atilim Sahin, ATOLYE
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How to design a collaborative space by combining tangible, social and digital design

Α workgroup on how to design collaborative spaces that are eco-friendly and sustainable. Spaces where people can work and collaborate in a stimulating environment with the minimum of resources needed (human, financial, energy etc).

Facilitators:
Wolf Kuehr, VOLUMES & Atilim Sahin, ATOLYE
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The role of creative hubs in small and medium-sized cities

What are the specific challenges and opportunities for creative hubs in small and medium-sized cities?

Facilitators:
Sarah Daly, Creative Spark & Ronnie Garattoni, Warehouse
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Sustainability of Creative Hubs

A co-creation session on how to sustain and grow a creative hub, combining passion, social purpose and … profitability. In this session we will work together to explore multiple ways of revenue and different business models of creative hubs, based on their propositions, characteristics and assets.

Facilitators:
Ben Kolp, The Living Room & Tania Santos, CRU cowork
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Team Culture

This workgroup presented specific methods for creating and leading functional, multidisciplinary teams, ones that will support your idea or your company’s activities, products and strategies in the best possible way.

Facilitator:
Nana Radenkovic, Nova Iskra
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