New pan-European partnership on Culture and Creativity

This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission.

Today, the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) announced its Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC) on Culture and Creativity, adding to the already existing eight Communities, which address a pressing societal challenge: climate, digital, energy, health, raw materials, food, manufacturing, urban mobility.

The EIT launched a call for proposals for the new KIC in October 2021, inviting applicants to submit their vision for how EIT Culture & Creativity could bring about change in the sector. The winning consortium ICE – Innovation by Creative Economy, led by Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, consists of 50 partners from 20 countries, presenting a wide geographical coverage. The mission is to unlock the innovation potential of the cultural and creative sectors and industries, and to contribute to their sustainable growth and recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic. This new pan-European partnership will bring key players in the field of education, research and business together, providing Europe with well-trained professionals and innovative entrepreneurs who will turn the results of cutting-edge research into innovation.

Mariya Gabriel, Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth said: “Culture is not only our common language, it also an innovating ecosystem. The new EIT Culture and Creativity Innovation Community will capitalise on the unique richness of European diversity to guarantee that creatives are ingrained in the pan-European Innovation Ecosystem. I look forward to observing the growth of this sector’s innovators and start-ups under EIT’s innovative approach, which has had a significant impact on the lives of Europeans over the previous decade.”

To facilitate EIT Culture & Creativity’s establishment, the EIT will provide the winning partnership with a start-up grant of up to €6 million to ensure they become fully operational as soon as possible. As the partnership reaches its full speed – offering educational programmes, supporting innovation projects and providing business creation and business acceleration services across Europe – the annual grant will be increased, and could reach approximately €70 million per year under the current Horizon Europe programme. Additionally, the KIC is expected to leverage more funds from the private and public sectors.

The consortium will aim, in particular, to:

• Break boundaries in CCSI education by teaching cutting-edge technology to creatives as a cross-industry skill;
• Deliver mission-driven innovations leveraging the power of CCSI to develop innovative services;
• Transform CCSI businesses through innovation support, incubation schemes, novel investments and philanthropic financing;
• Mainstream the impact and value of CCSI, especially culture and heritage, as an enabler for economic regeneration and social cohesion;
• Deepen the acknowledgement and knowledge of CCSI´s unique contributions to research and innovation based on novel, data-driven methods.

It will create synergies, not only with national and local partners, but also with other EU programmes and funds, such as the dedicated research cluster for culture, creativity and inclusive society under Horizon Europe and the Creative Europe programme.

Background

The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) strengthens Europe’s ability to innovate by powering solutions to pressing global challenges and by nurturing entrepreneurial talent to create sustainable growth and skilled jobs in Europe. The EIT is an EU body and an integral part of Horizon Europe, the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation.  The Institute supports dynamic pan-European partnerships, EIT Knowledge and Innovation Communities, composed of leading companies, research labs and universities each dedicated to solving a pressing global challenge, from climate change to health, to renewable energy. Together with their leading partners, the EIT Community offers:

• Entrepreneurial education degrees and courses across Europe that transform students into entrepreneurs such as Dora Palfi of imagiLabs, whose helping introduce coding to young women and girls, supported by EIT Digital.
• Business creation and acceleration services that take ideas and budding businesses to the next level such as Northvolt manufacturing the world’s greenest lithium-ion batteries, supported by EIT InnoEnergy.
• Innovation driven research projects that turn ideas into products connecting partners, investors and expertise, such as Diabeloop – D4Kids, an artificial intelligence system to improve type 1 diabetes management for children, supported by EIT Health.