Danielle: So it's nearly Irish Design Week, and this year there are over 38 events across Ireland, anchored in Dublin and reaching into Donegal, Galway, Waterford, Kerry, and Kilkenny, to name but a few. The theme this year is Fáilte Future Europe, and it is themed deliberately to Ireland's EU presidency. The programme moves between the global and the deeply local, from European policy summits to heritage craft visits, from design education conferences to a workshop. A Dublin studio. There are so many incredible events. The week opens with Standing Ground in Collins Barracks in Dublin, an exhibition at the National Museum of Ireland, bringing together Irish Couture and Carrickmacross Lace and exploring the relationship between heritage, craft, and contemporary design practice. There is contributions across the education sector, crafts, lacemaking, storytelling, and back again. There are multiple evenings in the Royal Irish Academy of Music. One of note is the IDI, the Institute of Designers of Ireland, hosting Neville Brody which will be in conversation with the legendary Mary Doherty, two legends together. And Dr. Linda King will be chatting to the Stone Twins in the National Print Museum. There are many, many, many events on, so check them out. And I have no intention of reading out all of the listings, but what did catch my eye was one of the biggest events in Irish Design Week this year. And it's the European Creative Industry Summit called Fall to Future that comes to Dublin on the 10th through the 13th of November. It's hosted by the Design and Crafts Council of Ireland, curated by Creative FED and supported by the EIT for Culture and Creativity. Here to tell me what that actually is is Susannah Montgomery, who is Business Development and Ecosystem Manager at EIT Culture and Creativity. Susannah, welcome. Susannah Montgomery: Hiya Danielle, nice to nice to meet you here online. and yeah, Danielle: Great. Susannah Montgomery: very excited to see you and many other folks in Dublin in gosh, like three weeks now. Danielle: Yeah. So you might just begin with maybe telling us a little bit about yourself and your involvement with the summit. Susannah Montgomery: Yes, so I my name's Susannah. I work with EIT Culture and Creativity. And yes, I have the I have a funny title of both I think business development, which a lot of people know, and ecosystem, which feels a little strange as a job title. But it's because we as EIT Culture and Creativity, we do two things. We're both a funding body. So we give away funding that supports innovation across Europe, but in our case it's specifically focused on innovation in the cultural and creative sector. But I have the privilege of working on our partnerships and our management of our ecosystem relations. So basically being the person with like their ear to the ground, meeting all kinds of people from across heritage, music, architecture, fashion, gaming, media, and understanding what are they working on around innovation, what are their needs and how can we connect people together. And if I had to say one thing about the event that's coming up, it's all around connecting people in Ireland, across Europe, around the creative industries. Danielle: Amazing. what exactly, so the EIT there, the EIT culture and creativity. So there are multiple EITs, isn't that right? Susannah Montgomery: Yes. Mm-hmm. Danielle: And yeah, so just maybe explain just to kind of give us a little bit of a background, like what is the EIT other than funding? What does it do? Susannah Montgomery: Absolutely. So we I always sort of joke that we are the solution to the one-off project conundrum. So I I Danielle: Mm-hmm. Susannah Montgomery: can imagine there's many people out there who can relate to the idea of you've applied for money for a project, maybe it's to do research, maybe it's to pilot something, what have you, and you put in all this effort and it's amazing, but what happens when the project money runs out? Well more often than not, the idea goes on the shelf, you have to chase the next round of funding. So how we came about is very much to be this innovation support body to say, okay, actually some of these pilots, prototypes, etc., have a lot of legs to really go to market. How can we help them to get there? So much of our support, and in our case again, it's focused on the cultural and creative industries, but EIT more broadly supports everything from climate to health to food to urban mobility. How can we get these ideas actually to market to be used by people and not just be great ideas, but real solutions? Danielle: Yeah. And that continuation is really important because a great idea can, you know, be surfaced, but it can only get to a certain point. And without that extra push of funding and that ecosystem of, you know, mentorship and skills around it to help drive it forward, it'll never see the light of day. Isn't that right? Susannah Montgomery: Absolutely. So that that's very much what we try to do is kind of build that support system to get Danielle: Mm. Susannah Montgomery: things really standing on their own two feet. So this can look like support for startups, whether it's incubating an idea and seeing could this be a real business, to acceleration programs that can connect you to not just our funding, but many other kinds of funding, whether it's public or private funding or bridging the two together. it can look like education. So actually what's very exciting is we also do funding. not just for new maybe masters programs or PhD programs, but also for continuous professional development. Where can we meet professionals, in our case working in the creative sector, to identify what are the skills they really either need or are curious about and want to work on and how can we also help them be able to be lifelong learners, not just learners until, you know, their mid twenties. And so, Danielle: And if there is, is there funding calls out at the moment or how does that work? Susannah Montgomery: We do. We have many funding calls out at the moment. so we kind of across all of these pillars offer funding. right now we still have open support for our incubator program. So if you're sitting there on an exciting idea and maybe fashion or architecture, we actually now have a program specifically tailored to incubating, validating, could this be a real viable business. we also have open funding calls right now for again this professional development. Specifically focus on media, which is very exciting. So skills around maybe digital storytelling, navigating topics like copyright or AI in your workflow. and the thing most importantly, we have open right now are what I kind of think of as our keystone funding call, which is our innovation call. And this is really it's up to 900,000 euros. And this is support for companies or maybe companies working with a couple of partners. To really take their idea from TRL seven or really this like working, functioning prototype towards TRL nine, ready to enter market, start bringing in revenue, et cetera. And this is aimed at people working in media, people working in fashion, people working in architecture. Those are our focus areas of 2026. Danielle: So you really actively look for people to collaborate on these kind of proposals and to go for funding as a collaborative piece as well as individuals. Susannah Montgomery: Yes, exactly. I mean, I I think that's so important for the spirit of Europe, right? That it's I mean, of course you have many different countries, many kinds of culture, but I think at the core of what we do as EIT culture and creativity is we really want to champion the importance of European digital sovereignty. And that does ultimately mean how can we find solutions that can viably work and scale, not just within a single country, but across Europe. And one of the best ways to do that is to encourage people to already start working together, whether that's tech companies, piloting with universities in different sectors or working together with cities, what have you. I think the more we can build relationships across borders, across sectors, the s stronger we can be as an ecosystem. Danielle: if you have an idea that you're sitting on, is there like a kind of a quick way to establish whether or not it's eligible without, because I know a lot of people probably listening, you know, putting in for funding can be a huge application process. Susannah Montgomery: Yes. Danielle: And so is there a kind of almost like just a way of testing to see is the idea suitable? Is it eligible? Is there any mechanism for that? Susannah Montgomery: Yeah, I mean of course I I I like to say I think one, because startups and maybe like the ecosystem around them is so often our primary target group, we've really tried as best we can to make our processes, our language a little bit more accessible. Because I hear you. I mean, my goodness, sometimes it's it's like reading a different language if you have to navigate Danielle: Mm. Susannah Montgomery: all the jargon or bureaucracy. So I I love that we try to take a spirit of jargon busting. that said, I think what makes us different is most of our support tends to aim towards private companies. So I I think a key difference there is like I I love the spirit of if you're if you're an NGO, if you're a nonprofit organization, but if you are applying individually, some of our funding calls they really expect support in you bringing in revenue or support in you being able to have an e you know equity that people can invest in. So that's one key differentiation. Of course there's many companies who navigate kind of both public and private funding. We love that too. but that's one way to check if you might be eligible. Of course, we also do funding that can support universities or training professionals, etc. But I think that's one key distinguisher that could help many creative professionals see. Like, does this fit me or does it not? And Danielle: Mm-hmm. Susannah Montgomery: most importantly, I do think something that's a good takeaway is I always say what distinguishes us from Creative Europe is we are not the funders of content. So while we love again great content, like a new game, a new Theater show, new opera, new film, what have you. That's less of our lane. We're more around the tech that enables the sector. So we're there to fund what are the new tools, what are the new processes that you need. And then actually so often the studios themselves are also the ones applying for these calls that there is very much often internal entrepreneurship happening. And these can create great revenue streams where you realize, this tool that we made in-house could actually also be something we could bring out to the rest of the world to use, to sell, and to also. create a stream for us to fund our next project. Danielle: So it's definitely worth a look. We will pop the links at the end of this episode so everyone can check out and see what is available and maybe where they're eligible and maybe it might spark some ideas. But then that takes us to the Design Week event. So FALCHIA Future, the European Creative Industries Summit. So looking at the calendar, this is Susannah Montgomery: Yes. Danielle: the biggest event in the calendar. It's a... across several days, has multiple speakers, it has multiple breakout sessions, it has so much going on. So you might be able to try to explain it to us exactly what is happening at this summit. Susannah Montgomery: Absolutely. Yeah, you certainly will not be bored at the summit. There's there's tons going on. So we'll be kicking off actually on the eleventh with first part of our day. We really wanted to bring more of like a hands-on working sessions vibe. I think what's super important with these kinds of events is that it it I mean, let's be honest, we're bringing a bunch of creatives together and there's nothing less creative than just sort of having information sent at you while you just passively stand there. So we Danielle: you Susannah Montgomery: thought how can we harness the energy, the expertise, the ideas in the room? so we'll kick off on November 11th with working sessions on topics like how to build fashion innovation ecosystems, how to bring more regional skills networks into where you work, whether that's in Ireland or in other countries, how can we learn from best practices? and the part I'm excited about in part because I'm helping to host it, is we're looking at this topic of provenance. Now Provenance, I feel like for some it's such a buzzword right now. For others, they're like, you've said a word that means nothing to me. But it's maybe actually a concept a lot of us know about. That it's this idea of making things more traceable, more transparent. And it's a topic quite important in heritage, in f media, and actually more and more in topics also like music and fashion. How can we better trace and attribute credit to who made these pieces? What materials are they coming from? and especially in something like media. Do we know if these topics are, say, real or not? I I think more and more we are dealing with systems where if we don't know if an image is real or fake, or if there's misinformation involved, you need to have the ability to trace and track is this information real or not. It's it's really becoming important in the heart of the creative industries. But there's a flip side to it too, that we also want to investigate and bring people to think more about as well, which is What's the power dynamic that comes with this when we make things more transparent and traceable too? So that's a bit of my passion topic. But let's say if you are folks working across creative industries, you're interested in maybe learning about these topics, contributing to these topics, we really want our morning to be about hands-on sessions to learn, to share ideas, maybe find your next collaborating partner, maybe find someone or organizations who might want to apply for grants together, etc. And then in the afternoon we kick off. Our more public vaccine program with talks. We'll be talking, of course, a bit about us, maybe not to brag too much, but I will say we're a bit of a new kid on the block. So we wanted to use this as a chance to get to know the Irish creative community more and for them to get to know us. to invite folks to participate in our policy forum that is being organized by the Creative FED who is really like the policy advocacy body around the creative industries. And they very much want to tie a line between What are the themes of the current EU presidency being hosted in Ireland? And where does the creative industries fit into these very important topics around AI, around circularity, around fair remuneration, what have you? Danielle: And so the fact that it is in Ireland and then you mentioned there about provenance and I noticed there is within the timetable there are site visits and the site visits have been picked for Donegal, Waterford, Kenmair, Galway Susannah Montgomery: Yes. Mm-hmm. Danielle: and Limerick. And it's interesting because they are producers and manufacturer places. So we have Donegal Tweed and Donegal Lace. We've got Connemara Marble. We've got Waterford Susannah Montgomery: Yeah. Danielle: Crystal. All of these non-tech. entities, you know, which Susannah Montgomery: Yes. Danielle: I find like refreshing, to be perfectly honest, Susannah Montgomery: Yeah. Danielle: you know, that it's a deliberate kind of move to the creative industries that are actually beyond what I guess Ireland is known for, or, you know, Susannah Montgomery: Yeah. Danielle: in some ways struggling with whenever you want to look at it. So that was a deliberate, a deliberate idea was it to just kind of to bring that in. Susannah Montgomery: I mean, I think that's in part the joy of working with Design Week. That design, well, Danielle: Mm-hmm. Susannah Montgomery: of course, design can exist online. We're also leaning Danielle: Mm-hmm. Susannah Montgomery: into the joy of design in its tangible form. And I think Ireland has one of the richest histories around textile design, around glassware design, around fashion, what have you. And I I think that and I think what you rightly pointed out, and it's actually a play on our own session. We called it Crafting Provenance. And we really want to draw this line between not everything around. topics like traceability, like transparency only exist online. They also very much exist in our own tangible and physical ways of understanding our own lives, our the media we consume, the clothes we wear, et cetera. So for example, starting next year, there is something coming called the digital product passport, which means every garment we wear, you I think we all know we can find a tag in there that tells us what size it is, what materials it is, et cetera. They all Danielle: Mm-hmm. Susannah Montgomery: have a QR code where you can also look up everyone who's had a hand. In producing this garment. And it's also this again, this interesting way of bleeding between many of the values we're trying to navigate in our understanding of the digital world and EU values, but also the physical way that we then produce crafts, fashion, materials, et cetera. And where do we make things more fair, more visible? and where does this also maybe put pressure, but maybe excitement for brands to have to adopt these new standards? Danielle: Yeah, because there's a real sense of place washing, isn't there, particularly in the fashion industry, you know, where things can be made abroad and then they could be brought to Ireland and a label could be sewn on them. And then it's considered made in Ireland, you know. And I think that Susannah Montgomery: Yes. Danielle: that duplicity is, you know, is not really fully understood because a lot of people, you know, they always kind of side with honesty and say, that must have been made in Ireland, you know, and. It's having that clarity and that passport. I've heard of it, the product passport, and I think it's kind of high time, you know, it's high time Susannah Montgomery: Yes. Danielle: that we got that in front of everybody and let people understand really where everything is coming from, from their food to their clothing, to every aspect of, know, digital equipment, et cetera. Susannah Montgomery: Exactly. And then it creates a it's a fairness loop, which Danielle: Mm. Susannah Montgomery: I I think is so important too, to your point that if if I'm a creator, I I want to be credited for my work, whether it's the sweater that I make, the song that I write, and these are the systems that can help us to better not just consume amazing projects, but also make sure Danielle: . Susannah Montgomery: when we do that the credit and the finances go back to the people who put in the labor behind it. And so th I think these Danielle: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Susannah Montgomery: are very much key topics that we care about and and we hear them as extraordinarily important in Ireland, but also within the greater EU presidency. And that's why we want to use this event to draw links between both what's happening in Europe, which is really the focus of the 11th. On the 12th, we've invited many of the Irish creative industry bodies to work with us to shape a day full of provocations and talks and working sessions to really think about what is happening in Ireland's creative industries right now. Where again do these topics around AI, around remuneration, around sustainability intersect in Ireland, where can we also learn from maybe European examples and perspectives? And our goal, a little bit of a sneak peek, is we want to produce at the end, let's say a a bit of a manifesto of what were the outcomes of these two days of bringing so many creative minds together and saying this is what creative industries in Dublin, in Ireland, in Europe says it needs right now. And that's really always an important goal of this summit wherever we hold it. Danielle: It is important because all too often these types of conferences and not specifically this, know, kind of conferences with big lofty ambitions. you know, I often wonder like, well, what has come out of that? You know, fair enough, there might be connections on the day and, you know, people kind of start to collaborate in different ways. But actually, you know, when we look at the themes that the conference is framed around the EU priorities of competitiveness, AI, fairness Susannah Montgomery: Yes. Danielle: and AI, green transition. democracy, know, all of these things like, well, what actually is going to be the output of that or the at least the seeds being sown in order to move those dials forward? Otherwise, we're talking to ourselves because we're great as a creative community to talk and operate within the silos. having the policy dimension is really important in there to be Susannah Montgomery: Mm-hmm. Danielle: able to kind of affect policy. But what is it you're hoping to? make change or what would have to happen at the event for change to kind of really embed. Susannah Montgomery: Sure. And and I think that that's maybe in some way, especially with my own work to go back to like what the heck is an ecosystem manager? I always say I'm sort of the one lifting you up to peek over the fence. That what I see so much is it are these silos where people feel boxed in they know maybe their own local community or they know folks working within their own track of whether it's media, whether it's fashion, whether it's culture, heritage, what have you. And yet what I have the privilege of is I get to peek over all these fences and I get to hear the conversations happening across these different parts of the creative sector. And what I can tell you is more often than not, the conversations sound the same or the values at the core of them are often quite similar. And so what we want to enable with this event, but also more broadly with the work we do is how can I learn from others? How can I build these connections with folks in different countries or maybe working in different silos to me? That are maybe actually tackling quite similar problems again around we're all facing the perils and the joys that come with generative AI entering the creative industries. We're all facing what's happening now with how that affects job security and how that affects, again, fair credit and new possibilities for the next generation of talent and what that means to be a working creative professional. And we're all facing how do we navigate this in a world with the climate crisis happening? What are the implications for how I consume content, how I consume the the clothes that I am buying, etc. many people are asking similar questions and the more we can learn from each other, actually the stronger we can be. So that's Danielle: Mm-hmm. Susannah Montgomery: very much what we're trying to do is how can I peek over the wall and see what are other people's innovations agendas, what are other people, what are the questions they're asking and how can I learn from them? And how can we then maybe start to boil this down into a clear shared message that people can build off of. Danielle: And you mentioned at the start about digital sovereignty. So like what Susannah Montgomery: Yes, and Danielle: does that mean for like in plain language for the maybe the graphic designer, the know, maybe the filmmaker, maybe, you know, the creative that's in the room. What does that look like? know, what is hoping to be achieved in that space? Susannah Montgomery: Sure. I it's yeah, big words. And and I think in in its simplest form, it's around how can we be less reliant on big tech? Because so often, especially in Europe, big tech is not here. Danielle: Yeah. Susannah Montgomery: Big tech lives in the US, in China, Danielle: Mm-hmm. Susannah Montgomery: in other countries. And while many of the tools and services can be great, not every countr not every company from a specific country is bad, but there's been a bit more of a realization that within Europe we want to be less reliant. on just a few big titans and to create a self-sustaining ecosystem. So I think for a graphic designer, it means how can I have more variety of tools to pick from? How can I pick tools that maybe align with my own values, tools that maybe use greener forms of energy, are more transparent in where they're sourcing you know, the data that they're feeding in, what data they're holding on to, what it's spitting out, and that I can have more control over understanding what it's borrowing from me. And so I think That's to me what digital sovereignty is, is to be able to equip creatives from all over with the tools that they want that match the values that they have. Danielle: And I think the funding that you mentioned at the start that the EIT are providing really, I think, will hopefully close that gap. So those ideas that will have an opportunity to be funded and actually come on, you know, they could be software companies or organizations that allow us to rely less on American tech, you know, and maybe Susannah Montgomery: Yes. Danielle: be able to kind of do the things that we need to do ourselves here because there's so much that we do in Europe, you know, we Susannah Montgomery: Yes. Danielle: already. have, you know, even in terms of scale and population, we outnumber America, you know, so there's a lot more that we could, I suppose, rely on ourselves and maybe back ourselves with. But I guess the funding isn't quite the same, you know, how much is invested into tech in the States Susannah Montgomery: Yes. Danielle: versus here. But that, suppose, is a really good starting point to kind of start to close that gap a little bit. Susannah Montgomery: Exactly. It's all it's all a bit you've you've rightly spotted a bit of the feedback loop is how can we listen to what are the needs and the challenges of the sector, what are the signals sort of being spotted now of what are the challenges that are coming or being faced today. And Danielle: Mm. Mm. Susannah Montgomery: then where can we support the solutions to those challenges? And that's so Danielle: Mm-hmm. Susannah Montgomery: much of what we're trying to fund and then to match make and grow is if you're struggling with this, here's someone who can solve that problem. 'Cause more often than not, it's not about that we need new solutions, it's that we need to grow the current ones around us. Danielle: Exactly, yeah. Susannah Montgomery: And that's what I think competitiveness can look like is to have this Danielle: Mm-hmm. Susannah Montgomery: robust ecosystem where everyone can find, you know, really again, the tools, the products, what they need that actually match what they're looking for. I'll I'll do Danielle: Mm-hmm. Susannah Montgomery: a little shout-out. There's a great speaker, thought leader that I love named Maria Farrell, who has this piece called Rewilding the Internet. And I always think about it with how we're rewilding the creative sector, that we're trying to go less from let's just have a few really big Big tech solutions where it's it's a bit like the kind of land mining version of thinking about the earth that you know she Danielle: you Susannah Montgomery: compares that the internet used to be a place with like lots of weird corners, then it became a place where there's just a few big titans, and the better version of it looks like let's go back to this version with many different options, solutions, community spaces. And I think the same could be said for the creative sector. The more solutions, the more options there are in the market, the healthier the market is. Danielle: The labs that are taking place to kind of break out sessions, they're all kind of based on a provocation. is there like in terms of the entire conference, would you say is there a kind of one main provocation that the whole event is centered around or the program is centered around? Maybe like, you know, a kind of question that you kind of want the room to kind of acknowledge or grapple with? Or is it just the sum of the parts kind of thing. Susannah Montgomery: Yeah, I I mean I I guess if I were to think what are we grappling with, it's that, Danielle: Mm. Susannah Montgomery: you know, Europe it we're not short on ideas. So this Danielle: Mm. Susannah Montgomery: is really the space where we can connect ideas, we can connect people, we can connect funding to break down or well, no, not break down yeah, I guess break down walls in a more a very fragmented ecosystem and to bring Danielle: Mm. Susannah Montgomery: people together, to grow their networks, to learn new ideas, etc. I I feel like that's really at the core is how Danielle: Mm-hmm. Susannah Montgomery: can we be stronger from connecting. Danielle: Yeah. And this is first time that Ireland has hosted this. And it's obviously under the auspices of the EU presidency, which is great. Do you think Ireland brings its own dimension or a different dimension to maybe what you're seeing in Europe? Because obviously the schedule is very much about the kind of there's an Irish day in there. Do you think Susannah Montgomery: Mm-hmm. Yes. Danielle: that that's going to produce different outputs or do you think we're maybe dealing with the same? topics and themes that you've seen outside of in other European countries. Susannah Montgomery: Ooh, it's a g it's a good question. I think what is special in Ireland is that there is such a celebration of culture, culture as language, culture as fashion, culture as music. I I think that is well known across borders. I I think if you if whether you're asking an American like me or someone based in the Netherlands or what have you, we're we're all quite familiar with the cultural zeitgeist of Ireland. But I think maybe innovation isn't the story we're hearing as much. We hear about innovation as in here's all of these big AI companies popping up in Ireland and we hear about all this amazing culture that's been around and a part of the Irish spirit. I think the bridge between those isn't as well known across. And I'm think that's where we can learn a lot from is where are many of these creators navigating these topics around innovation. And where can we also learn from that in such a rich culture that is also very much grappling with, I think, again, two strong identities between lots and lots of tech and innovation and lots and lots of culture. And what happens where are these two meeting in the middle and where aren't they? 'Cause I can imagine there's just as much friction as there is connection when it comes to having these two pillars in one country. Danielle: Yeah, absolutely. And I do feel like there are two. Yeah, there's two. There's two industries just, you know, side by side, but not really looking at each other. And the tech industry has always just done what it does. And the creative sector almost kind of says, you know, we're better. We're doing things in a better way and a different way. And there's lots of creativity in tech and there's lots of tech going on in the creative sector. But yeah, I think the story of the creative industries is the story that we are probably as a design community much more interested in telling because it is an indigenous industry that has grown. Susannah Montgomery: Sure. Danielle: There's so many great Irish businesses and Irish design practices and creative studios up and down the length and breadth of the country. So it certainly is a different story to tell while I think Ireland is having a very big cultural moment across the world, Susannah Montgomery: Yes. Danielle: in lots of different ways as well. So it's a it's a really I think it's a really fascinating time for so much to be in Ireland. And it's great to see so many amazing Irish speakers on the list for the Irish Day. I won't read them out because there's so many, but you can check out the website if anyone wants to have a look at that. But thank you so much, Susannah. If anyone wants to get any tickets, are there any tickets left? Susannah Montgomery: Yes, we we still Danielle: Yes. Susannah Montgomery: have a few left. It's but I they are moving, so I would highly recommend people book now. I think what's nice to know too is our event in Dublin is free to the public. So I highly recommend if you have the time, we'd love to have you. And we also I don't know, you never know if you're excited to you always wanted to go up to Dunegal or out to Galway to see some of these exciting sites. You're also very welcome to join for the excursions we'll be planning on the thirteenth too. Danielle: So you can get a little bit of a tour of Ireland as well in. Great. Well, listen, if you want to get tickets, have a look at Irish Design Week on Design and Crafts Council Ireland websites. That's dcci.ie for the full listings for all of the events across the country during Irish Design Week. Thank you, Susannah. Susannah Montgomery: Thank you.