SHAPE-THE-LIGHT
Project Final event at IALD - Enlighten Europe 2026 in Paris
Successful conclusion of the ‘SHAPE-THE-LIGHT’ project at IALD – Enlighten Europe 2026 in Paris
Co-funded by the European Commission as part of the ‘Creative Europe’ programme, Shape The Light was a 30-month European educational project. It aimed to bring together the worlds of lighting, the arts and culture. In Belgium, it was coordinated by KU Leuven (together with the cluster Groen Licht Vlaanderen), alongside four other specialist clusters across Europe. The programme involved training courses, practical workshops and networking events designed to foster collaboration between creatives and professionals in the lighting sector.
This year, the partners of SHAPE-THE-LIGHT, a European project developed under the European Union’s Creative Europe programme, attended the IALD Enlighten Europe conference, which took place in Paris in june. The event offered a valuable opportunity to gather new inspiration, discuss current topics in the lighting industry, and meet interesting people with their projects, questions and perspectives.
The partners were invited to present the results of the #ShapeTheLight initiative, which was due to come to an end on 7 July 2026. The special round-table discussion on 19 June entitled ‘Shape the Light: art for light, light for art’ brought together the project’s European partners to explain how our four lighting clusters have worked to bridge the worlds of art, design and technology. The session highlighted how the project has promoted co-creation, international collaboration and the exchange of knowledge between various stakeholders in the lighting design value chain, linking art, design, technology, sustainability and innovation.
As the icing on the cake, Sabine De Schutter, lighting designer, Womeninlighting ambassador and founder of Studio De Schutter, gave a talk tittled ‘Let There Be Re-Use — Circular Thinking in Lighting Design’.
Thank you to all the partners and to all contributors during the project for their valuable contributions!
Catherine Lootens (KU Leuven - for cluster Groen Licht Vlaanderen), Alberto Sozza & Antonella Venza (Rete di Imprese Luce in Veneto), Andrea Padré (CICAT Lighting Cluster) and Mary Hadidi (Cluster Lumière).
An overview of all activities is available via https://www.groenlichtvlaanderen.be/activiteiten/projecten/shape-the-light-%2808/07/2024-07/07/026%29
Launch SHAPE-THE-LIGHT
On Monday, January 8th 2024, SHAPE-THE-LIGHT, a new European Project co-funded under the Creative Europe Programme was launched.
The project partners are:
- Rete di Imprese Luce in Veneto (IT) – Project Coordinator
- CICAT Lighting Cluster (ES)
- Cluster Lumière (FR)
- Catholic University of Leuven (BE) for Groen Licht Vlaanderen
Business, innovation and creativity are interrelated. The SHAPE-THE-LIGHT project is based on the dual complementary concept of the intrinsic relationships between art and business, focusing on art, design and the lighting industry.
The project will launch support initiatives and an open and inclusive collaborative space for the creation of new creative processes, business models and market developments, and to embrace the digital and ecological transition in the architectural lighting design sector. The main objective is to create a bridge between the different agents in order to generate co-creation and co-design processes, launching opportunities to test advanced technologies and new innovative solutions to the challenges posed for these industries.
These support measures and collaborative spaces will trigger the creation of new creative processes and business models, driving the development of the lighting sector towards the proposals put forward in the European Green Deal and the priorities of the New European Bauhaus.
The project priorities are:
- Sustainability: co-create, adopt and disseminate more environmentally friendly practices, as well as raise awareness of sustainable development through cultural activities, in line with the European Green Pact and the New European Bauhaus;
- Digital: to support the European cultural and creative sectors in their digital transition and business recovery after the COVID-19 crisis.
- Inclusion: from valuing diversity and equality for all, to ensuring accessibility and consideration for all needs.
SHAPE THE LIGHT will actively contribute to the objectives of the European Green Deal and the transition towards a sustainable and digital society by providing tangible opportunities and experiences, both at local and European level, for creation, co-design, experimentation, knowledge sharing and networking. Among the activities planned to achieve the objectives presented in the proposal, during the 30 months of the project we will find performance labs, coffees, masterclasses, workshops and forums, among others.
Grant Agreement n°101131736 — SHAPE-THE-LIGHT — CREA-CULT-2023-COOP