Programme: EIT Culture & Creativity
Call: Open Call For Partnership: Strategic Topic Groups
EDGE reframes design as a culture and a medium for operating under constraints and complexity, a capacity essential for sustaining Europe’s competitiveness, and promotes adaptability and responsible values. Design literacy (as a combination of creativity, ethical&sustainability, experiential learning competences- EU Entrecomp) is fundamental as society becomes increasingly entangled with more-than-human systems, from designing with AI to designing with nature, and must confront extreme environmental and societal conditions. Drawing on the NEB principles of sustainability, inclusion, and aesthetics, EDGE collects the most effective design practices at EU level, pilots new competence framework, fosters multi-stakeholder engagement, and co-develops policy briefs to help industries and communities thrive amid uncertainty. It develops and tests a design process that identifies shared values among research, business, policy, and redefines competitiveness as the ability to navigate instability and turn constraints into opportunities. EDGE focuses on three actions: mapping the EU design ecosystem in an open repository (disseminated on the EIT CC Digital Hub); testing a Skillset to strengthen design literacy across CCSIs and policy; and co-designing policy briefs to shape future value chains. The consortium includes universities, research centres, and agencies experienced in multi-stakeholder collaboration. A Policy Board with representatives from RIS Regions will guide policy uptake. Aligned with EU priorities on competitiveness, Green Deal, and triple transition, and highlighting the CCSI sector’s capacity to translate these priorities into tangible societal benefits, EDGE contributes to the cultural transformation agenda of the NEB platform and EIT C&C, leveraging design expertise to complement policy and business solutions with creativity and participation.
Project duration
1/09/26 - 30/04/27
Scientific project head for the Department
Valentina GIANFRATE
Coordinator
Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna – Department of Architecture
Partnership: RISE (SE), Eindhoven University of Technology (NL), ART-ER (IT), D’Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara (IT), CollectiveUP (BE)
Total Budget: 59,938 Euros
DA Budget: 17,500 Euros
Lecturers and researchers connected to the project
Elena VAI
Margherita ASCARI
Lorela MEHMETI