Engine Explores Creative Stimulators

Engine has been appointed to work on a 3-year project funded by the European Commission to explores new ways to stimulate creativity. 

As part of the brief Engine will work with six internationally-renowned Research Institutions, including Università di Bologna (Italy), Fondazione Guglielmo Marconi (Marconi Institute for Creativity, Italy), Goldsmiths’ College (UK), Medizinische Universitaet Wien (Austria), Guger Technologies (Austria) and the Universidad de la Laguna (Spain). 

The project, entitled CREAM (Creativity Enhancement through Advanced brain Mapping and stimulation), aims at developing and using new brain mapping technologies to identify the main brain activities related to the creative thinking process in the scientific and artistic domains. 

The project will at first look to determine the best ways to benchmark creativity, and identify the most effective ways for it to be measured both in Art and Science. 

Phase two of the project will then explore possible new ways to enhance and embed levels of creativity in individuals, using various forms of stimulation and training techniques devised by the research teams.

Approaches will include several cognitive methodologies to measure the creative process, different brain mapping techniques, as fMRI and EEG, and different stimulation procedures, e.g., trans-cranial stimulation. .

Engine will provide practical expertise to help researchers define and test the various stimulus and training methods, as well as helping to establish and understand how the techniques can be applied successfully to the real world/end user environment. 

CREAM is a European Commission project funded under the 7th Framework Programme. The European Commission has identified creativity as an essential driver for cultural diversity in Europe, with the creative industries employing millions of people across the EU and contributing a substantial share to the economy. 

Indeed in 2007 the organization implemented the European Agenda for Culture, an initiative that encourages the national authorities, the cultural sector and EU institutions to jointly promote creativity and innovation in new and improved ways. 

Pete Edwards, the Chief Strategy Officer of Engine, said: “Creativity is such an important asset, and the opportunity to explore new and innovative ways of enhancing it is very exciting. This project allows us to take a fresh look at what stimulates the creative mind, and could prove to throw up some answers that may significantly impact the way people and businesses think and act in the future.” 

Roberto Guerrieri, project lead and Professor at the University of Bologna, said: “This is a project with path-breaking potential and we are delighted to have Engine, a natural home ground of creativity, providing their expertise.”