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Project partners: Brussels Creative (Belgium) and Urban Mill (Finland).
Ukrainian Leader Organization: Fund of Vasyl Khmelnytsky K.Fund.

European Design Upgrade: Transnational Capacity Building (EDU) – is an interdisciplinary program for improve the professional level of young designers and the development of creative teams, developed jointly with leading expert teachers from three countries: Belgium, Ukraine and Finland.

The program aims to bring together designers, artists, architects, scientists, IT professionals and entrepreneurs to address the urgent challenges of urban ecosystems, find developments and solutions that can be implemented locally or across Europe.

The EDU course consists of theoretical and practical lessons and team assignments that will be implemented simultaneously in innovation hubs in Ukraine (UNIT.City), Belgium (Brussels Creative) and Finland (Urban Mill).

The project is funded by the European Commission, the Agency for Education and Culture and implemented by the fund K.Fund. It aims to develop creative industries and support talented designers, artists and technologists. The purpose of the program is to find innovative urban solutions for creating a modern and harmonious socio-cultural environment in Ukraine.

“We are honoured to be partners in key European educational project. We hope that the cooperation with the EU will open the door for new initiatives aimed at further integrating Ukraine into the international cultural space and enabling talented Ukrainians to contribute to the development of Europe,”

entrepreneur Vasyl Khmelnytsky, founder of the K.Fund fund.

35 participants will be selected for the free interdisciplinary program in Ukraine, after preliminary questioning and interviewing. In Ukraine, a course of lectures from international teachers will be held in May 2020 in Kyiv, based on the UNIT.City Innovation Park.

The top-10 participants will become leaders of multidisciplinary teams and will have the opportunity to take part in practical training at one of the largest FabLab Fabricator rapid prototyping laboratories in Ukraine, which will last from June until August 2020.

Upon completion of the workshop, the most sophisticated and interesting concepts from each of the countries represented will receive funding for the preparation of their prototype and a trip to the international exhibition Dutch Design Week, which will take place from 17 to 25 October 2020, which will increase the potential of young artists to implement their ideas in Europe.

The implementation of this pilot project uses an innovative approach combining interdisciplinary knowledge and skills to meet the challenges of today’s society.

If you know and feel the urge to create new design concepts, have creative ideas, designs and a desire to join the European cultural life — leave your contact details to receive an information about the competition.

The program is funded by the European Commission, and for the first time in the history of Ukraine, the center became a local foundation.