Where Creativity Meets Heritage

This article was written for Uncover magazine – From Global to Ground (10th edition). You can read the full magazine here. 

Authors: Martin Q. Larsson is Head of Katapult, catalyst for creative entrepreneurship in Stockholm, and Petra Norling is Collaboration Strategist at Södertörn University, one of the KreativEU partners.

Subtopia: a broad-scoping case study
For students, researchers, policy-makers and creative professionals, Subtopia offers a compelling case study in how local cultural ecosystems can evolve into international nodes of innovation. Today, its reach extends far beyond the borders of Botkyrka thanks to a growing partnership with Södertörn University and their joint involvement in the European university alliance KreativEU. To understand the significance of this collaboration, we start with the heart of Subtopia: its creative incubator Katapult.

Katapult: the heart of Subtopia 
Katapult describes itself as a business incubator for creative startups, and the description fits. It provides aspiring cultural and social entrepreneurs with free office space, 24/7 access, creative business coaching, networking opportunities, training, subsidised studio use, support with applications and marketing, and a community of like‑minded creators.

Katapult is built on trust. People come up with early, fragile ideas. It is Katapult’s job is to give those ideas room to grow – and to help creators see themselves as entrepreneurs, innovators and cultural leaders. There are no formal entry requirements. If you believe in your idea and want to build something in the cultural or social sectors, Katapult offers the tools and environment to help you make it real. It is part of Botkyrka’s long‑term strategy to support entrepreneurship and creativity – an effort that spans everything from youth leadership programmes to innovation houses such as Changers Hub or the media house Fanzingo.

Katapult doesn’t just incubate businesses; it incubates people. Its programmes, such as 7 Steps 2 Bizdom, provide hands‑on development opportunities that help creatives strengthen their professional skills and discover sustainable pathways within the cultural industries. In pop‑up events at locations like Alby Square, Katapult engages directly with residents, offering idea guidance and showcasing creative career possibilities. For a municipality historically shaped by migration, social diversity, and grassroots cultural expression, Katapult’s inclusive ethos resonates deeply.

Subtopia’s connection to cultural heritage
Even though Subtopia looks firmly towards the future, much of its work is intertwined with cultural heritage. Creative hubs like Subtopia frequently operate in sectors such as visual arts, digital media, museums, community engagement, and craft‑based innovation – fields directly linked to how societies preserve and reinterpret heritage.

Subtopia’s emphasis on cross‑innovation, where methods from the arts are applied to other industries, reflects a wider trend in Europe to rethink cultural heritage not as something fixed, but as a living, evolving resource. This aligns closely with the values of the KreativEU alliance, which places Europe’s diverse cultural heritage at the centre of its teaching, research and knowledge‑transfer activities. Cultural heritage, in this sense, becomes a catalyst for creativity, social understanding and sustainable innovation. Its participation as an associated partner in the KreativEU alliance strengthens its influence further, positioning Subtopia within pan‑European networks focused on cultural heritage, creativity and sustainability.

Subtopia’s involvement in the KreativEU alliance fits nicely with another Erasmus+ project: Synergy Across Sectors (SXS). Together with partners in the Czech Republic and Finland, the aim is to make museums move from just being memory institutions to become drivers on societal transformation through cross-sectoral innovation.

Södertörn: the University College in the southern suburbs
For 30 years, Södertörn University has had a mission to provide higher education in southern Stockholm, where levels of education and income are generally lower than in other parts of the capital. Bringing heritage and entrepreneurship together into the digital era corresponds well with the intercultural and cross-sectoral profile and the vision to provide critical views on contemporary issues. 

Södertörn University has been a member of the KreativEU alliance since 2024, participating in a major European effort to expand transnational education and research in the field of cultural heritage. For the university, cultural heritage is not just about what Europe has been, it is about imagining what Europe can become, and ensuring that students have the creative spaces, partners and infrastructures they need to shape that future.

The university’s partnership with Subtopia, the nearby municipalities of Botkyrka and Huddinge, the National Archive and the National Museum as well as the local development hub Flemingsberg Science, brings academic and creative ecosystems together, linking research with real-world artistic production and entrepreneurship.

The H&ART Incubator: a new platform for Heritage & Art Innovation
One of the KreativEU alliance’s most ambitious initiatives is the launch of the H&ART (Heritage & Art) Incubator – a transnational incubator focusing on cultural heritage, artistic practice and creative entrepreneurship. Subtopia as well as Katapult will help provide a creative development environment for this incubator:

• Supporting students in translating cultural heritage concepts into creative projects with professional potential
• Offering business development, mentoring and coaching to H&ART participants
• Sharing knowledge about sustainable creative entrepreneurship
• Connecting students to Subtopia’s community of creators and production experts
• Hosting cross‑innovation labs, residencies and showcases

The incubator represents a new type of collaboration between academic knowledge, artistic practice and local creative ecosystems.

Conclusion: a model for Europe’s creative future
In Subtopia, heritage meets creativity. At Katapult, ideas become sustainable enterprises. And through Södertörn University, the H&ART Incubator and the KreativEU alliance, these local forces connect to a European movement seeking to reimagine the role of cultural heritage in shaping our shared future.


 

A shared philosophy 
At Breda University of Applied Sciences, we also believe entrepreneurial skills – adaptability, initiative, dealing with uncertainty – are essential for everyone navigating today's rapidly changing world.

That philosophy is at the heart of BUSS, the BUas Startup Support programme. BUSS connects students from all domains – from Creative Business, Games and Data Science & AI to Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure & Events – with coaches who help them develop their ideas and take their first real steps as creative entrepreneurs. The approach is deliberately inclusive: if you believe in your idea, there’s a place for you. BUSS offers coaching, workspace, peer learning, and connections to the regional startup ecosystem in and around Breda.

When BUas joined the KreativEU alliance, it brought that same mindset to the table. The H&ART Incubator brings it all together and is now building a transnational version of what programmes like Katapult and BUSS have been doing locally for years: creating the conditions in which people with creative ideas in the cultural and heritage sectors can grow – not just as artists or practitioners, but as entrepreneurs and innovators.

What makes the KreativEU collaboration exciting is precisely that learning happens in both directions. Sweden’s Subtopia and Katapult show what’s possible when a creative ecosystem is given the space to develop over time, with deep roots in a local community. For BUas, that’s both inspiration and a challenge: how do we build something similarly grounded – locally in Breda, and transnationally across eleven partner universities?

We don’t have all the answers yet. But learning by doing is kind of our thing.

Tijs van Es, Innovation Square Manager at BUas.