Creativity is the common denominator of innovation, whether we operate in the cultural, economic, industrial, scientific, technology or research sectors. 
In the new millennium, our conception of innovation has expanded as artists and researchers working with emerging technologies seamlessly influence culture and community while contributing solutions to health, engineering and environmental issues and injecting unique intellectual property into the financial and knowledge economies.
This special edition of Filter celebrates this remediated renaissance, which sees dynamic changes as the arts and humanities again intermingle easily with science and technology. It is a pivotal point at the beginning of our integrated era. We are at the cusp of generating significant changes in the way we view and explain both our natural and constructed environments, from the nano-scale to the universal.
I am delighted to welcome Linda Cooper as Guest Editor of this special edition of Filter, launched in conjunction with the International Symposium on Electronic Art (ISEA), Singapore 2008, and focusing on these cross-disciplinary fields. Linda has had a long relationship with ANAT, both as a Board Member and as Chair of the Board. More recently, she developed ANAT’s Art and Science Policy and played a significant role in its adoption and implementation nationally. Our guest commentators provide diverse expert perspectives on shifts in thinking, dynamic projects and foresight in this field globally.
ANAT has worked at the forefront of this growing field in Australia for two decades. We have initiated national and international residency programs, placing creative and highly skilled artists into academic and industry research settings. We also produce Emerging Technology labs – intensive incubators that enable practitioners to play creatively with technology to produce the unexpected – from robotics and biotech to responsive wearable arts.
In our renaissance era, art and business are thankfully no longer an odd couple – having both discovered the conjugal joys of collaboration! Artists who use emerging technology produce bespoke IP in the push to create their personal vision. These ancillary IPs have a value in their own right, enabling artists to generate revenue from them and providing commercial products and solutions that contribute to prosperous economies. We all win.
Globally, investment in creative research is producing cultural regeneration and economic growth and addressing cultural and sustainability issues. We now have the opportunity to bridge outmoded disciplinary barriers and work towards our future well-being. ANAT‘s vision is for artist–led innovation that enables creativity to enhance every aspect of our communities, culture and industry.
Please enjoy this Filter and remember to share it with others, as together we can achieve what we can’t alone.
Melinda Rackham
Melinda was the Executive Director at ANAT from 2005 to 2009.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 Australia.