Innovation and Creativity

Conference delegates, young and not so young ?welcome.

Though I can not be with you at the moment, I would like to convey my appreciation and thanks to you, for your attendance to this conference.

The line-up of exiting speakers on the creativity and enterprise is in itself a great promise. But it is to the young visitors from the Nordic countries that I look to with most respect and faith. You are representatives of the voices that all policy makers in education need to not just hear but actually listen to.

The next three days will hopefully give all of you the time and material to deliberate, debate and deduct new truths about the power innovation and creativity in the hands of the young.

What can be learned from the examples outlined in the paralleled session and the satellite session? Is there a possibility for some of us to work more closely together to enhance the positive activities in education regarding creativity and enterprise?

On a more national note for Iceland, I can see the importance of the conference stemming from two issues.

Firstly it is the publishing of the results of an extensive evaluative research on Arts and Cultural Education conducted by Anne Bamford.

This extensive evaluation of the Icelandic arts education system is extremely informative and draws out both positive aspects of the Icelandic system but also questions other aspects of it. Tomorrow a group of experts will discuss this report; however that should not be the only discussion this report gets. Copies of the report in English are available at the conference desk if you like to examine that in detail and comment on it. Please do so. My colleagues from the Ministry will be more than happy to receive your comments and suggestions, am I not right guys?

The other issue is regarding creativity as one of five foundation of Icelandic education policy. The five concepts are literacy, equality, democracy, sustainability and creativity. These concepts will permeate the national curriculum that is now being updated in extensive collaboration with stakeholders.

The conference Innovation and Creativity in the Hands of the Young is a collaborative undertaking and representatives from the Nordic nations have given a lot of their time and effort into the development of an idea that came to two women at a coffee house in Brussels.

The Nordic council of ministers have made this conference possible by generous funding, and NICe the Nordic innovation Centre has made it possible for us to invite the young talented people from the Nordic nations to join us. For that I thank them all.

So with no further delay I declare the conference officially open, and leave you in the capable hands of Sigríður Thorlacius and Högni Egilsson who will act as your guides through the exiting days ahead.

Enjoy !