Goals and Activities

The cooperation “International Creative University Network” (ICUN)

This network and program for internationalization provides a forum for international researchers to think through ways that knowledge-based economies relate to education as institutionalised and personalized learning, the research university, and to the arts and sciences more generally – and how to optimise these connections. We will encourage scientific meetings to discuss the central matters of contemporary knowledge economies - including futurability and innovation, creativity and happiness, developmental strategies, creative cities and regions, universities, design thinking, collaboration, peer production, intellectual property, transdisciplinarity, knowledge renewal and knowledge obsolescence. The international forum will increase our understanding of today’s complex confluence between imagination and global ambition, aesthetic and science-based economics and research universities. The internationalization network will help define a new agenda for understanding the global research university - which locates it at the intersection between protean developments in modern creative economy sectors and the arts and sciences.

A feature of the framing of this internationalization network is its interdisciplinary character. The network focuses on and addresses key issues in the fields of higher education, contemporary political economy, and knowledge formation and transmission. Participants will include thinkers and specialists drawn from the fields of education policy, higher education analysis, the sociology of knowledge, design thinking, management, visual culture, cultural sociology, history, philosophy, entrepreneurship and leadership.

The development of the international research network is scheduled for a timeless period and organized in a sequential mode of activities: A cooperation with different universities in Europe, Australasia, as well as Latin America and Africa is under development.

i) this network approach of different researchers and scholars from around the world as an online platform and an infrastructure called “International Creative Universities Network (ICUN)” which allows further internationalization with the focus on critical innovation studies, open knowledge production, global knowledge cultures and educational spaces of creation;

ii) this network will develop an integrated young researchers strategy including the possibility of an international doctoral program combining cultural exchange, e-learning tools, videoconferencing, wikis etc.;

iii) this network will develop a set of research proposals on the way by the way of international meetings, workshops and conferences as well as network conferences that will offer the possibility of the creation of networked research proposals;

iv) this network will develop a new major online-only journal called “Global Knowledge Cultures” with Addleton Academic Publishers (New York) and others that will publish articles and research reports in English and other languages.

iv) this network will involve interdisciplinary experts and discourses

v) this network will integrate the idea of the online encyclopedia on discourse innovation and field transformation, and focus on the transformation aspect of "heliotropic" science”, developmental strategies and happiness studies.

ICUN Activities realized, planned and scheduled

One common focus of the cooperation is, to integrate theoretical perspectives and empirical approaches. The research network wants to integrate critical discourse theories and the analysis of political programs and policies as to analyze them in a multilayer-perspective of governance regimes. Different levels of analysis and different power-analytical approaches like discourse theory, social practice theories and institutional analysis will be analyzed focusing on strategies of „discourse-innovation“ and „field-transformation“: The perspective of the research network is oriented towards „shaping alternative futures“, path-deviance and path-creation and the role of university to create new options for society.

The networks activities have started in 2012 and have had a follow up in 2013 – we are planning the 3rd conference and the broadening and deepening of network activities.

Year 2012

• 1. Kick-Off: Preparational Conference “Creative University”. First International Research-Network-Conference of the “International Creative University Network” at Waikato University, Hamilton, New Zealand.
• Book “The Creative University”, Sense Publishers.

Year 2013

• 2. Follow up Conference “Organization and the New” and “Symposium Creative University” at Philipps-University of Marburg, Germany.
• Journal: Special Issue of “Knowledge Cultures”, Addleton Publishers
• Book: “Creative University at the Crossroads”.
• Book: “Organization and the New”.
• Set up of an Online-Platform and mailinglist „international creative university network ICUN”
• Set up of video-network lectures at blogspot platform

Year 2014

• 3. Continuity Conference “Creative Economy – Creative University – Creative Development” at Royal University of Bhutan.
• Special Issue of Journal “Knowledge Cultures”, Addleton Publishers. 
•  Book ”Creative Economy, Creative Unviversity, Creative Development” 
• „Network-Lectures“ by Michael Peters (Video-Documentary; making use of videoconferencing and youtube) 
•  Development of a Research Proposal DFG (research group): f.ex. “IDEA-Log-X – Ideologics”. Knowledge Regimes, Institutional Creativity and the Creative University” – a research approach integrating theoretical and empirical analytical perspectives

Year 2015

• 4. International Research Network Conference (possibly Right Livelihood College; Penang University, Malaysia)
•  Outcomes, Milestones and Products
•  Publication / conference proceedings 
• Set up of an international PHD-Program on „International Creative University Network” (ICUN): Knowledge-Creation and Futurability of economy & society“ 
• Web based open access publication project „international encyclopedia in educational science: Discourse-Innovation and Field-Transformation” 
• Exchange of young researchers in international PhD-Program

Year 2016    

• 5. International Research Network Conference
• Strengthening Web based exchange / Experimenting with global online-conferencing; further Development of global research network
• Publication, conference proceedings 
• Exchange of young researchers in international PhD-Program 
• Online-Platform and mailinglist „creative-university – creative knowledge-politics “ 
• Another global online-conferencing? Development of global research network
• Development of global research network 
• Cooperation with United Nations University?