DESIGN HUB

LAC-DESIGN HUB

EUROPEAN CO-CREATION NETWORK FOR TECHNOLOGY-AIDED LANGUAGE & CULTURE IMMERSION

LAC-DESIGN HUB brings together actors from various creative and cultural sectors (CCS) (e.g. audio-visual & film production, performing arts, language & culture education), information technology industry and applied linguistics to a so far unique European collaboration initiative:

An agile and strongly synergistic co-creation network will be established as to empower and diversify the joint innovation potential of creative and cultural sectors and to accelerate and continuously support the international distribution, visibility and impact of their professional performances and products through a technology-based ecosystem built around multi-institutional goalsetting, significant international outreach and long-term co-operation prospects.

During the foundation project, CCS professionals from different parts of Europe will team up in regional “SUB-HUBS” and be guided through co-creative design and production of film-based immersion journeys combining features of serious gaming, location-based experiences and value-adding extended reality (XR). Building on narrative, custom-authored screenplays with locally and regionally profiled approaches to globally relevant thematic areas such as linguistic diversity, cultural heritage and intercultural (professional) communication, an exemplary set of film-based computer simulations will be produced, illustrating the elasticity and replicability of the simulation solutions with respect to both contents and target groups, and demonstrating the synergistic structures and the co-creation spirit behind the novel European design & production hub for promoting internationalization, social integration and life-long & -wide education for plurilingualism, intercultural understanding and professional development. From the beginning on and as a common thread throughout all operations, special attention will be paid to climate-friendly and sustainable realization of green, entertaining and educative simulation journeys, paired with the gradually increasing integration of user incentives for physically active lifestyle and wellbeing. Global access to the film-based immersion journeys will be provided through an already practice-proven and ready-to-use online-laboratory for language and communication performance that will, during the initiation phase of the hub, undergo an optimization process for future use as a sustainable, cost-efficient and both producer- and user-friendly distribution channel for simulation journeys to be innovated through the LAC-DESIGN HUB also in long-term collaboration.

Building on extensive preparatory research throughout the past decade and the first international co-productions involving pilot target groups in around a dozen countries across Europe and beyond, the main mission of the LAC-DESIGN HUB will be, at first, to consolidate, to extend and to systematize the multisectoral collaboration structures required for the described ecosystem to unfold its full potential: Along with the more general structures for design, production and international online-distribution of so far unique immersion journeys, additional functions and measures such as “regional radars” for foresight potential and development needs analyses, as well as continuous user-experience and -preference mapping for up-to-date content orientation, target group extension and appropriate quality assurance will be installed in the regular workflow of the hub. Along these steps, then, a systematic, “multi-level” approach will be introduced for tackling the present challenges faced not only in the creative and cultural sectors, but – interestingly – also amongst numerous key target audiences of the initiative e.g. with respect to documentation and development measures of linguistic and intercultural (professional) performance, and this on various highly relevant levels from policymaking to accompanying research, and from quality materials design to teaching practices and up-to-date performance diagnostics.

Hence, the foundation project of LAC-DESIGN HUB will go far beyond  a „merely conceptual“ design of novel intersectoral co-operation structures and theoretical synergy development scenarios for the CCS: It will bring about a complete, both structurally and technologically optimized ecosystem for genuinely synergistic and co-creative design, production, distribution and implementation of film-based simulation solutions, including case-examples for various target groups and thus showcasing the elasticity and expansion potential of the innovations – ready for instant global implementation and ambitious further innovation work.

K.Haataja | CRI | LAC-DESIGN HUB | UPDATED: March 2025