Creativity will be under the spotlight at the conference Forum for Creative Europe. The Forum will explore creativity's social, educational and economic potential, not least in terms of boosting Europe's global competitiveness.

The global economic meltdown of recent times has sparked renewed interest in creativity as offering a road to recovery. ECF director Gottfried Wagner, one of the speakers on ‘creativity and society', will argue against the ‘fetishising of creativity' as a cure-all for our societal and economic woes, while advocating ‘a culture of responsibility accompanied by creative citizenship'.

During a panel discussion Gottfried Wagner will elaborate on an article he wrote for the forum 'Against the Fetishising of Creativity', this article is available for download here.

His contribution will be made in the context of a discussion of how, twenty years after the Iron Curtain fell, culture and creativity can help us to face society's most pressing challenges.

The conference's other two themes are 'creativity and education' and 'creativity and economy'. The conference is one of the main events of the 2009 European Year of Creativity and Innovation.