Network Activation Event bridges diagnostics and prototyping in data empowerment for the Cultural sectors
Against the backdrop of Ars Electronica’s 2025 theme, “PANIC – yes/no”, EXCENTRIC marked a major milestone with its Network Activation Event, a dynamic convergence of cultural innovators, data experts, and institutional pilots. This event, held on September 5th, was a strategic inflection point setting the ground for the transition from diagnostics to prototyping within the project’s pilot development framework.
From diagnostics to prototyping: a strategic leap forward
The event was embedded within Work Package 2, which guides the pre-piloting phase of EXCENTRIC. Since March 2025, WP2 has focused on understanding the digital readiness, infrastructural needs, and collaborative potential of pilot institutions across Europe. Through T2.1 (Pre-piloting diagnostics) and T2.2 (Technological readiness and solution planning), each pilot has undergone a deep assessment of its internal capacities, data practices, and community engagement strategies.
The Network Activation Event served as a bridge to T2.4, which centers on establishing a collaboration framework and ORBIT setup – a dynamic network of stakeholders including data managers, researchers, cultural leaders, and early adopters to benefit long-term sectoral transformation.
Expert-led workshops
A standout moment was the interactive session led by Dr. Vikki Jones (University of Edinburgh, Institute for Design Informatics), whose research on data-driven innovation in the creative industries provided a critical lens for EXCENTRIC’s ambitions. Drawing from the publication Data-Driven Innovation in the Creative Industries, authored by her and colleagues, and her work with the Creative Informatics Challenge Project, Jones emphasized the need for ethical, inclusive, and value-based data ecosystems in the cultural sector. Her insights, particularly around the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society’s audience mapping, offered EXCENTRIC partners a concrete example of how data can be used not just for efficiency, but for equity, experimentation, and community empowerment. This session directly informed the pilots’ approach to data collaboration, reinforcing the project’s commitment to driving data, not just being driven by it.
A collective exercise in vision and values
The first session of the Network Activation Event, hosted by Frank Kimenai (KEA) and Margherita Soldati (Waag), was designed as a Network Inspiration Event – a space for collective discussion, critical reflection, and strategic foresight. Pilots were grouped to explore their diagnostic findings and begin shaping their implementation roadmaps through a series of provocations:
- What are the bottlenecks in implementing your data practice?
- What shared values can support a collaborative data ecosystem?
- What makes you panic – and what gives you hope?
These discussions were enriched by the presence of external experts from EXCENTRIC’s ORBIT, including:
- Rasa Bocyte (Netherlands Institute for Sound & Vision)
- Catherine Franche (Ecsite)
- Vikki Jones (University of Edinburgh)
- Stefan Kaegi (Rimini Protokoll)
- Edit Kaldor (Lund University)
- Natalie Giorgadze (Culture Action Europe)
- Vero Róza Risnovska (European Theatre Convention)
- Tuan Trinh (EIT Digital)
- Ambra Trotto (EIT Culture & Creativity)
- Maaike Verbeck (DEN Academy)
Their contributions were instrumental in challenging assumptions, offering feedback, and helping pilots articulate the values, risks, and opportunities of shared data ecosystems. Discussions ranged from audience privacy and transparency to the creative potential of data as a tool for agency, gamification, and institutional transformation.
Public AI Task Force: engaging communities in tech governance
The event concluded with a demo of the Public AI Task Force, facilitated by Nesta’s Centre for Collective Intelligence. This session introduced a deliberative engagement model that empowers communities to co-design policies around AI and data governance. Participants explored how cultural institutions might meaningfully involve the public in decisions about emerging technologies – an approach that aligns with EXCENTRIC’s vision of inclusive, participatory innovation.
From Activation to Acceleration
The Network Activation Event was not a standalone moment, but a strategic milestone within a broader implementation arc. It directly feeds into the development of the accelerator methodology (T2.3) and the Researcher-in-Residence (RiR) program, which will monitor external research activities and support the design of Open Demo Days and LABs in the project’s final phase.
As EXCENTRIC moves into prototyping, the collaboration framework established through this event will serve as a living infrastructure supporting pilots, amplifying outreach, and anchoring the project within the wider CCSI ecosystem.
