On March 24 and 27, 2026, the kick-off meeting of the participants in the international consortium for the OPEN RELIEF grant project, funded under the European Union’s “Creative Europe” program CREA-CULT-2025-COOP, was held online. The consortium includes IM Industries (Croatia), LATRA (Greece), and Kyiv National University of Technologies and Design. Representing KNUTD at the meeting were the project leader, Head of the Department of Interior and Furniture Design, Danylo Kosenko, and working group members – Dean of the Faculty of Design Kalyna Pashkevych, Associate Professors of the Department of Interior and Furniture Design Tetiana Bulgakova and Oleksandra Shmeliova-Nesterenko.

During the meeting, project coordinator Ivan Mrden (IM Industries) briefed the participants on the main steps for implementing the project, the content and timelines of the work packages, and the project budget.

The meeting participants discussed the division of responsibilities for implementing the individual work packages and identified priority tasks for the first phase of the project.

The project “Empowering Communities through Open Source Creative Solutions for Crisis Preparedness and Humanitarian Innovation” (OPEN RELIEF) is funded by the “Creative Europe” program and aims to enable cultural and creative sector professionals to jointly develop sustainable, repairable, and scalable humanitarian solutions – such as survival kits and shelters – in collaboration with NGOs and communities in Ukraine, Croatia, and Greece to enhance crisis preparedness and resilience.

The OPEN RELIEF project is funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.

03.04.2026