The EU stands for a unique way of combining economic growth with high levels of social protection and inclusion, shared values including democracy, human rights, gender equality, and the richness of diversity. This model is constantly evolving and needs to deal with multidimensional challenges.

H2020 Societal Challenge 6 devoted significant resources to fostering a greater understanding of Europe and providing solutions for inclusive, innovative and reflective European societies. Building on its achievements research and innovation activities under Horizon Europe’s Cluster 2: Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Society focus on democratic governance, cultural heritage, and social and economic transformations. The priorities chosen are interconnected and respond to the most pressing social, political, economic and cultural concerns and expectations of European citizens. They provide a clear picture of what benefits and solutions citizens and different stakeholders can
expect from relevant R&I actions.

Example projects from Horizon 2020

 Democracy: RECONNECT/‘Reconciling Europe with its Citizens through Democracy and the Rule of Law’, aims at understanding and providing solutions to the recent challenges faced by the European Union (EU). With an explicit focus on strengthening the EU’s legitimacy through democracy and the rule of law, RECONNECT seeks to build a new narrative for Europe, enabling the EU to become more attuned to the expectations of its citizens. The project generates policy recommendations that are citizen-focused and consistent with the EU’s
principles going to the root of the Union’s challenges.

 Cultural heritage: COURAGE creates an electronic registry of collections of cultural opposition in all former socialist countries in Europe. GIFT develops virtual customisable museum experiences or tours to address and, ultimately, better understand the complex ways in which users may confront art and heritage content. Lithuania is one of this project partners.

You can find out more about this project here.

 Social and Economic Transformations: TECHNEQUALITY. Technological innovations, such as robotics, big data, increased computing power and machine learning, promise great potential for increasing productivity and boosting general welfare. Furthermore, these innovations play a crucial role in securing the competitiveness and growth of EU economies. However, technological innovations may also have an impact on social inequalities (income, skills, wellbeing and health). The goal of the project is to improve the understanding of
the relation between current technological innovations and social inequalities, by: Providing better predictions of the consequences of technological innovations for the European labour markets; Understanding which skills are crucial for productive growth and how skill differences can lead to (technology-driven) inequalities in income, education, wellbeing and health; Researching how education (lower, higher and vocational) can prepare today’s children and workers for tomorrow’s labour market; Assessing how governments can avoid
large-scale poverty caused by technological unemployment.

 Understanding social exclusion: DARE aims to increase our understanding of why and how young people become radicalised and our capacity to effectively counter radicalisation. ISOTIS addresses the nature, causes and impact of early emerging social and educational inequalities in the context of socioeconomic, cultural and institutional processes.

You can read full EC factsheet on culture, creativity and inclusive society topic here.

 

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