What is CYANOTYPES?
Developing regenerative learning systems for creative futures
CYANOTYPES is a pan-European project* focused on future skills in the Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs).
Creative work is changing rapidly, shaped by digital technologies, societal challenges, and environmental urgency. Many existing education models and training systems struggle to keep up. Skills become outdated quickly, while new roles and practices emerge before clear learning pathways exist.
CYANOTYPES brings together education providers, industry organisations, creative networks, and policymakers to rethink how creative skills are defined and developed. Rather than treating skills as fixed lists, the project works with competence ecosystems:, learning systems that can adapt and evolve over time and across contexts.
*The CYANOTYPES project is co-funded by the European Union through the Erasmus+ Programme and is part of the Alliances for Sectoral Cooperation Skills.
CYANOTYPES takes its name from the early photographic process used to create blueprints.
Historically, cyanotypes were used to share plans and technical ideas across disciplines. In the same spirit, CYANOTYPES provides a shared reference point for future creative skills, connecting art, technology, education, and society.
The name reflects the project’s grounding in experimentation between creative practice and technical change; a dynamic that continues to shape today’s cultural and creative sectors
Instead of designing skills for a single moment in time, CYANOTYPES focuses on learning how to adapt.
The project works across three interconnected learning levels, known as triple-loop learning.
Third Loop: Learning how to respond to change
Helping organisations and individuals to respond and adapt to disruptive shifts and emerging needs. Who is involved? What roles could/ should we play?
Second Loop: Creating new skills together.
Co-creating new competences with educators, creative professionals, and industry partners. Why are we doing it this way? What are our assumptions?
First Loop: Using what already works
Building on existing practices, knowledge, and validated competences in the sector. What are we doing? Are we doing it right?
Together, these loops shift the focus from static training content to learning systems that remain relevant and resilient in rapidly changing conditions.
CYANOTYPES addresses the social, digital, and green transitions affecting the CCIs. Rather than treating these as separate challenges, the project connects them through transversal competences that apply across roles, disciplines, and sectors.
One outcome of the project is a framework and set of tools that can be used to:
navigate upskilling and reskilling in changing professional contexts,
experiment with new and flexible training formats
strengthen connections between education, industry, and policy.
CYANOTYPES is developed by a diverse group of European partners, including educational institutions, creative networks, sector organisations, training providers, and innovation hubs.
Partners engage in the project with shared questions:
How do we prepare people for roles that do not yet fully exist?
How can learning systems respond faster to real-world change?
How do creative practice, policy, technology, and society connect?
Through pilots and shared experimentation, partners test new approaches and bring insights back into their organisations, sectors, and regions.
Learn more about the CYANOTYPES Project