Brussels, 21/12/2009 (Agence Europe) - To commemorate the end of the European Year of Creativity and Innovation, the European Commission and the Swedish Presidency of the European Union held a closing conference in Stockholm on Wednesday 16 December. The objective was to pay tribute to the success of the initiatives and projects presented throughout Europe at various points during the year and to provide a forum for reflection and an exchange of experiences, to help reinforce creativity and innovation. The conference also provided the opportunity for the political leaders to reflect on possible ways of translating the results of the European Year 2009 into concrete actions. The European Year, which was launched in December 2008 with the slogan "Imagine. Create. Innovate", has given rise to thousands of initiatives across Europe, promoting creative and innovative attitudes in various sectors of activity. It has fed into the debate on how to prepare the European Union for the challenges which await it in a globalised environment. Taking part in the event were the Swedish ministers Maud Olofsson (entreprise and energy), Tobias Krantz (higher education and research) and Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth (culture), and high-level Commission civil servants. A number of ambassadors of the European Year also took advantage of the opportunity to present their "Manifesto for Creativity and Innovation in Europe", which they presented to the president of the Commission, José Manuel Barroso, on 12 November (EUROPE 10018).
The themes of creativity and innovation have inspired the press: the European Year has been mentioned in 3000 articles, online and on paper, and this media cover may have reached one fifth of the population of Europe. For more information, see: http: //create2009.europa.eu/index_fr.html (I.L./transl.fl)