Artistic practices are more and more broadly recognized as potential vectors of technological innovation. One of the main objectives of the STARTS initiative of the European Commission is to catalyze new synergies between all concerned stakeholders: artists, cultural institutions, R&D projects in information and communication technologies (ICT), companies, incubators and funds.

The VERTIGO project is a Coordination and Support Action (CSA) supported by the H2020 Program of the European Commission, innovation at the nexus of Science, Technology, and ARTS. STARTS promotes the arts as catalysts for efficient conversion of science and technology knowledge into products, services, and processes. Its purpose is to support and coordinate these synergies at the European level through three main action lines:
1)A program of artistic residencies as part of ICT R&D projects, through 3 yearly calls for proposals which will be selected by an international jury. A total budget of 900 k€ is allocated by the project for funding the participation of artists in at least 45 residencies aiming at producing original artworks featuring innovative use-cases of the developed technologies;

2) The organization of a yearly public event in Paris exhibiting the results of these collaborations. It will take place as part of the new Mutations / Creation platform initiated at Centre Pompidou, gathering exhibitions, performances and symposia, and dedicated to exposing and questioning the current challenges of contemporary arts in relation to their technological and scientific ecosystem. The first edition of Mutations/ Creation opens in March 2017 in the framework of the celebration of the 40th birthday of the foundation of the Centre Pompidou and IRCAM.

3) The development of the web platform starts.eu, uniting all concerned actors and offering, support to their related actions (matchmaking, communication, organization of third parties’ artistic residencies programs, etc.). The main platform features are to be delivered by the end of 2017. The project gathers a consortium of experienced partners in the fields of art-science collaborations, design, ICT research and innovation. It includes an international network of cultural institutions which will relay and disseminate the activities to their own networks.

The INL - International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory, after application, was selected for the program with two projects - CritCat and Nano2Water. Applications for artistic residencies run until March 2 (2:00 p.m.). Each artist selected may receive support of up to €30,000 to collaborate in one of the R&D projects and produce original artwork based on the technology developed by the project.