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Innovation Studio

Learn how RCS supports you in creative experimentation, skills development, and collaboration through the Innovation Studio.

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RCS Innovation Studio is a two-year pilot project which will facilitate new opportunities for knowledge exchange (KE) at the RCS. Through a series of workshops, panels, online discussions, interdisciplinary collaborations and seed funds, Innovation Studio will support creative experimentation, skills development and collaboration. The project hopes to generate new practices and pave the way for a future Centre for Innovation at the Conservatoire.

Our multi-talented students, staff, and alumni have the innovation potential and industry expertise to support Scotland’s Covid recovery and transformation. Innovation Studio will provide focused support and funding to unlock interdisciplinary approaches to local, sectoral, national and global challenges. It will offer our creator community additional tools and provocations as they seek to expand their sphere of influence and impact.

If you have any queries please email us at: innovationstudio@rcs.ac.uk 

Innovation Studio funding will come from the Scottish Funding Council through the University Innovation Fund (UIF) and private donations and sponsors.

Participants at the Innovation Studio listen to presentations.

Aims

  • To unlock the innovation and knowledge exchange potential of our Conservatoire community and extend our reach and impact in the world
  • To support our RCS community to leverage new projects, partners and sources of funding
  • To facilitate the development of new strands of innovative research
  • To establish an innovation hub and support service co-created during the pilot with Conservatoire staff, students and alumni
  • To facilitate the development of an active innovation network at RCS
  • To develop an imaginative Knowledge Exchange and Innovation Strategy that establishes this work as central to the Conservatoire’s future ambitions
  • To strengthen our role as the national conservatoire and civic university and set ambitious goals for our contribution to society.

 

Programme Outline

Three Innovation Challenges, each lasting around four months, are the heart of Innovation Studio and will drive the programming and seed funds available to the RCS community. These are thematically linked to the UN Sustainable Development Goals:

  • Green Recovery
  • Placemaking
  • Health & Wellbeing.

Three cross-cutting themes – Digital Pivot, Future Skills, Equality, Diversity & Inclusion – will inform and inflect all our work throughout those challenges.

The central Challenge Programme will be supported by two subsidiary programmes, a Crowdfunding Lab (Year 1) and a Creative Ideas Accelerator (Year 2).