AIMday at The Creative School tackles pressing topic of post-pandemic recovery in the creative industries

Industry professionals and academics came together at The Creative School to collaborate at Academic Industry Meeting day, better known as AIMday (external link, opens in new window) , an internationally recognized opportunity to tackle questions around a central theme. AIMday enables university-based researchers and organizations to connect and bring world-class research to life. By matching organizations’ need for new knowledge with academic expertise, AIMday brings understanding and new perspectives to real-world problems. Developed by Uppsala University in 2008, the AIMday concept has been embraced by several leading universities in Sweden and other parts of the world.

Hosted by The Creative School for the first time in the Catalyst, AIMday Creative Industries aims to address current challenges that affect the creative industries. This year, the posed problems revolve around the current period of post-pandemic recovery, with the focus on working collaboratively to reimagine the future of creative industries, including fashion, media, music, performance, journalism, film, and professional communication, among others. 

An opportunity to accelerate innovation

AIMday is an opportunity for organizations to connect with leading academic researchers to cultivate collaborations for maximum real-world impact, envision and implement the future of cities with other organizations and researchers, and access leading-edge knowledge, ideas, technology and insights. This year, the organizations present at AIMday included the City of Brampton, Sportsnet, and Spectrum Health Care, among others.

For researchers and academics, AIMday provides a space for those who are interested in building new partnerships in a specific area of research, connecting with other researchers working on similar channels, identifying opportunities for their graduate students, looking to learn more about the latest challenges organizations are facing and looking at challenges from new angles and different perspectives. Researchers and academics from a variety of programs at The Creative School will be applying their expertise to assist in solving problems posed by the organizations. 

This year, topics of discussion included engaging with audiences digitally on a small budget, supporting the expansion of space available in cities for creative activities, and transitioning free trial users to paid subscribers. 

An academic-industry knowledge exchange

AIMday provides a unique format for organizations and academics to engage in innovative discussion. First, questions are submitted by organizations to kickstart the process and form the meeting agenda. Each question addresses an organizational challenge that they want academic researchers to discuss. Then, academic researchers sign up for questions based on their specific research interests and expertise. AIMday organizers then match organizations with researchers that best fit the posed questions, ensuring efficiency and involvement of all attendees. On meeting day, the schedule is filled with a series of “one question, one hour” workshops with teams on each side of the table discussing each question, facilitated by a moderator. This exchange of knowledge, experience and ideas revolves around finding novel pathways to solutions. Attendees were also encouraged to network with other researchers and professionals and learn about disciplines different from their own.

To learn more about AIMday and future events at TMU, visit their website (external link, opens in new window) . 

The Creative School at Toronto Metropolitan University

The Creative School is a dynamic faculty that is making a difference in new, unexplored ways. Made up of Canada’s top professional schools and transdisciplinary hubs in media, communication, design and cultural industries, The Creative School offers students an unparalleled global experience in the heart of downtown Toronto.