DARIAH Innovation Forum #2 in Dublin: Bringing Together DARIAH and the Industries

DARIAH, which is the Digital Research Infrastructure for the Arts and Humanities, aims to enhance and support digitally-enabled research and teaching across the arts and humanities disciplines. DARIAH is a network of people, expertise, information, knowledge, content, methods, tools and technologies from its member countries across the EU. It develops, maintains and operates an infrastructure in support of ICT-based research practices and sustains researchers in using them to build, analyse and interpret digital resources.

Under the leadership of Dr Jennifer Edmond, Director in DARIAH as well as Associate Professor of Digital Humanities in Trinity College Dublin and the co-director of the Trinity Centre for Digital Humanities, the 2022 Innovation Forum will focus on how DARIAH can play a greater role in facilitating the arts and humanities to have groundbreaking impact on technological development. The trans-disciplinary panels throughout the day will explore the possibilities of creating truly human-centred innovation and policy, and an ethical and engaging marketplace for culture. Reflecting on the upcoming Innovation Forum, Dr Edmond tells us:

DARIAH Innovation Forum
The second DARIAH Innovation Forum brings together researchers and the creative industries, exploring how best to promote the arts and humanities to industry players and beyond. It will build upon the foundations of its first Innovation Forum in 2017 which took place in Aarhus, Denmark, in which keynotes, workshops and a matchmaking event highlighted DARIAH’s relations with traditional and digital industries. This second forum will strengthen and further explore cooperation between DARIAH and traditional industries associated with Arts and Humanities, like design and media, as well as new industries, like consultancy, game development and social media, plus emerging technologies like VR and AR. The forum will also provide attendees with the opportunity to explore the rich literary heritage, museums, libraries and culinary venues Dublin has to offer as one of the top cities in the world for arts and culture.

The event will feature panel presentations from major multinational industry players, including Ernst and Young and ReD Associates, creative and cultural SMEs such as Noho and Kinzen, forward-thinking academic projects such as the Cassandra Project and Trinity’s own international and interdisciplinary fellowship programme which combines the arts and humanities with computer science, the Human + Programme, as well as recognised arts and culture incubators and facilitators such as Gluon, IMEC and i2CAT. Many of DARIAH’s 20 member countries will be represented on the day, including delegates from France, Switzerland, Germany and Croatia. The evening will also feature a keynote address from the multitalented entrepreneur, artist, technologist and high-level innovation policy advisor Michela Magas.

DARIAH Innovation Challenge
The 2022 Innovation Forum will also showcase the results of DARIAH ERIC’s unique Arts and Humanities Innovation Challenge. This initiative is an open competition inviting experts in the arts and humanities to submit their solutions to a culturally embedded, but ultimately economically relevant, ‘wicked’ problem.
This year’s challenge invited competitors to consider the problem of a regional airport, giving the example of Shannon Airport as a starting point for further exploration. How might the services and spaces of regional airports be reinvented so as to continue to serve their longstanding mission as hubs for cultural exchange, even if fewer actual flights arrive and depart from their gates? How might they draw inspiration from other kinds of transformed cultural spaces, such as libraries, museums and bookstores in order to find new pathways to economic and social vitality?

The DARIAH Innovation Forum’s programme committee will select 3 finalists from submissions across the disciplines. These finalists will be invited to present their ideas at the forum itself on 3rd November 2022 in Dublin, with travel expenses covered.  The winner will be announced at the closing reception, with one overall finalist receiving a cash prize of €1000, and the two runners up receiving €500 each.

Registration
The DARIAH Innovation Forum is open to the public and can be attended either in-person, at the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts & Humanities Research Institute, or remotely, online. Attendees are invied to select only ONE mode of participation as the in-person participation has a seating capacity limit. There are no attendance fees, but registration is required. You can register here.