Since July 2017, the science team at Wismar University of Applied Sciences has been working as a lead partner in the CTCC project. Until the 3rd call in the "Southern Baltic 2014-2020" program, no project in the area of strengthening businesses through closer cooperation with the creative industries had yet been approved. This topic is already very topical in the EU (studies, events, etc.) as well as in the state of M-V, for example, Creative MV and similar formats. This applies just as much to other regions such as Lithuania, Poland and Sweden. With regard to the fact that the innovation capacity of traditional companies from the so-called blue and green industries (e.g., maritime companies or companies producing sustainable energy, such as wind turbines or wind or solar power) is not fully exploited and that some of the actors lack new ideas or implementation opportunities in the region, the cross-border project CTCC was launched in July 2017. 10 project partners from Lithuania, Poland, Sweden and Germany will implement the project until July 2020. The partnership is considered one of the strongest among the competitors in terms of having academic institutions as well as business supporting institutions (chambers of commerce and industry, business incubators) and policymakers (associations of municipalities) on board as direct partners. As associated partners, about 30 institutions from all over the Baltic Sea Region are supporting this direct partnership, representing equally different sectors of science & research, business and politics. Through this partnership, the project aims to support the innovation performance of traditional businesses from across the region through innovative solutions and to underpin their innovation and creativity through collaboration with the creative industries. Specifically, a partnership platform between the creative and traditional businesses to capture, evaluate and measure joint collaboration, potential and outcomes in the Southern Baltic region will be launched, and a series of training and capacity-building models and methodology for collaboration between the creative and traditional businesses from the region will be implemented.
New services will be launched, such as "Creative Broker" or "Creative Audit Tool", which will be used in the joint implementation of ideas and training measures between the creatives and traditional companies. The main project outcome should be a total of 15 innovative solutions for regional SMEs by June 2020, which will be developed with the help of creatives over 17 months. This is the most comprehensive project milestone that will lead to concrete innovative prototypes (e.g., products, services, business models, and new internal and modern business processes). A sustainable cooperation platform and network for future projects between the creatives and the traditional companies from the region, including annual competition actions for project implementation between the creatives and traditional companies, joint projects with academics and students, e.g., in the final thesis constitution are also among the envisaged project goals.
