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Culture and Creativity

Digital Innovation Hubs help companies take advantage of digital opportunities to improve their processes and products with a view to enhance their competitiveness. EU funding will be made available for hubs that are already (or will be) supported by their Member States (or regions), in order to increase the impact of public funding. The Digital Europe Programme will increase the capacities of the selected hubs to cover activities with a clear European added value, based on networking the hubs and promoting the transfer of expertise.

S+T+ARTS is driven by the idea that science and technology combined with an artistic viewpoint delivers valuable perspectives for research and business. Recent STARTS projects address the use of AI-systems and High-Performance computing for use cases such as media, disinformation, XR environments, climate change, food security, urban development, factory automation etc. through a number of dedicated sub-projects. In light of the continuing digitalisation of society, STARTS provides a holistic and human-centred approach.

Through its different pillars, S+T+ARTS offers:

The WORTH Partnership Project supports creative sector SMEs to collaborate transnationally with a view to develop innovative design-driven products by stimulating exchange and partnership between creatives, designers, manufacturers, crafters and technology firms. It is based on key principles such as quality of experience, including style and aesthetics, healthy and safe living environments, sustainability and circularity as well as inclusion, accessibility and affordability. Launched in 2021, WORTH II follows the success of the first edition (2017-2021).

The Social Investment and Skills window facilitates: development of skills and key competences; the matching, deployment and higher skills utilisation through education, training, including on-the-job training and related activities. The window also supports projects involving social innovation, health services, ageing and long-term care, access to prevention, innovative treatments and e-health options, inclusion and accessibility, and cultural and creative activities with a social goal.

This funding opportunity supports projects within the cultural and creative sectors. A broad range of activities and initiatives, and a wide range of applicants can be supported. Support is for projects involving transnational cultural cooperation, and which contribute to strengthening the creation and circulation of European artworks and artists transnationally. There is also a focus on funding projects which support the European cultural and creative sectors to nurture talent to innovate, to prosper and to generate jobs and growth.

Every year, the European Commission implements Pilot Projects (PP) and Preparatory Actions (PA) at the request of the European Parliament. The list changes on an annual basis. These actions sometimes target the news media and creative sectors.

The following actions are expected to be launched in 2024 for support in 2025:

The objective of the MEDIA 360° support is to exploit synergies among existing ecosystems, to develop further cooperation potential, to reach economies of scale across different supported activities, create impact across the value-chain. The action shall support a package of activities related to facilitating the creation and promotion of European content, and/or the uptake of new technologies or business models for the audiovisual sector.

The objective of the Markets & networking support is to enhance the promotion of European content in the global market and to foster cooperation among all parts of the audiovisual value chain for the co-creation and promotion of European audiovisual works. Cooperation of audiovisual professionals and promotion of European works are pursued by supporting two types of projects and activities:
• Markets focusing on a specific type of films and innovative content, or networking of markets that present similar genre/topics or are located in the same region;

The pilot project aims to contribute to a functioning public sphere which equips citizens with news and documentaries in modern audience format, necessary to contribute to European democracy, across borders and available in their own Member State, addressing challenges such as the domination of the European public sphere by a few powerful TV and video news platforms and corporations based outside Europe, and the changing consumer behaviour towards infotainment formats.

EU Missions are a coordinated effort by the Commission to pool the necessary resources in terms of funding programmes, policies and regulations, as well as other activities. They also aim to mobilise and activate public and private actors, such as EU Member States, regional and local authorities, research institutes, farmers and land managers, entrepreneurs and investors to create real and lasting impact. Missions will engage with citizens to boost societal uptake of new solutions and approaches.

As part of Horizon Europe, the European Innovation Ecosystems (EIE) programme aims to create more connected, inclusive, and efficient innovation ecosystems and support the scaling of companies, as laid out in the New European Innovation Agenda.

Innovation ecosystems

The CROSS SECTORAL strand shall promote cross-sectoral activities that aim at adjusting to the structural and technological changes faced by the media, including enhancing a free, diverse, and pluralistic media environment, quality journalism and media, literacy including in the digital environment.

This call will address media challenges and opportunities of trans-national nature. 

The objective of the Innovative tools and business models action is to strengthen the competitiveness, scalability and sustainability of the European players, as well as to improve the visibility and availability of European works and increase audiences in the digital environment.

The aim is to support projects focusing on the specific challenges of the audiovisual sector such as discoverability, sequencing of release windows, financing and territoriality in order to enable strong and visible offers of European works online and across borders to a wide public.

The EIT’s Knowledge and Innovation Communities are partnerships that bring together businesses, research centres and universities and which aim to strengthen their cooperation and create favourable environments for creative thought processes and innovation to flourish. The communities contribute to developing innovative products and services, starting new companies and training a new generation of entrepreneurs. The EIT Culture and Creativity community will deliver innovative solutions to help the sectors and industries become stronger and more resilient.

The Digital Europe Programme (DIGITAL) is a new EU funding programme focused on bringing digital technology to businesses, citizens and public administrations. It provides strategic funding to answer the many challenges we face today with regards to digital technologies and infrastructures. The programme aims to accelerate the economic recovery and shape the digital transformation of Europe’s society and economy, bringing benefits to everyone, but in particular to small and medium-sized enterprises.

Investment activities involve research, innovation, demonstration and digital activities including investments related to launching new products and technologies in the market. They also include organisational and process innovation, including new and innovative business models in different areas. Those areas may include sectors covering energy, energy intensive industry, environment, blue economy, maritime, transport, health, life sciences, biotechnology, agri-food, defence, space and cultural and creative sectors, among others.

Cluster 5, ‘Climate, Energy and Mobility’ supports the implementation of the Paris Agreement and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Cultural and creative stakeholders can become involved in:

Cluster 2, ‘Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Society’ aims to meet EU goals and priorities linked to: • Enhancing democratic governance and citizens participation; • Safeguarding and promoting cultural heritage; and • Responding to and shaping social, economic, technological and cultural transformations. Proposals can undertake innovative research on: • Democracy and Governance; • European Cultural Heritage and the Cultural and Creative Industries; • Social and Economic Transformations.

FARNET is the community of people implementing Community-Led Local Development (CLLD) under the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF). This community brings together Fisheries Local Action Groups (FLAGs), managing authorities, citizens and experts from across the EU, to work on the sustainable development of fisheries and coastal areas. In the past, projects related to arts and crafts, as well as cultural heritage have often been supported by this initiative.

The Just Transition Mechanism contributes to enabling regions and people to address the social, employment, economic and environmental impacts of the transition towards the Union’s 2030 targets for energy and climate and a climate-neutral economy of the Union by 2050, based on the Paris Agreement. The Fund is a key tool to support the territories most affected by the transition towards climate neutrality providing them with tailored support.

ERDF is part of the EU Cohesion policy and it aims to strengthen the economic, social and territorial cohesion in the European Union by correcting imbalances between its regions, by supporting economic recovery, job creation, competitiveness, innovation, and sustainability. It delivers on the Union’s political priorities, especially the green and digital transition.

Within ERDF, the Interreg programmes support cross-border (Interreg A and IPA), transnational (Interreg B), interregional (Interreg C) and outermost regions’ (Interreg D) cooperation.

The Alliances strengthen Europe’s innovation capacity by boosting innovation through cooperation and flow of knowledge among higher education, vocational education and training (both initial and continuous), and more broadly involving a socio-economic context, including research.

Programme guide available here.

Teacher Academies support European partnerships of teacher education and training providers, public authorities and stakeholders.

The Academies develop a European and international outlook in teacher education.

They can be innovative collaborations to develop and test initial teacher education and continuous professional development strategies. Academies can support the formation of networks and communities of practice, provide learning opportunities to teachers, support innovation, and inform the development of national and European teacher education policies.

This action supports the establishment and development of European platforms of Centres of Vocational Excellence, contributing to regional development, innovation, and smart specialisation strategies, as well as to international collaborative platforms.

The platforms are open for the involvement of countries with well-developed vocational excellence systems, as well as those in the process of developing similar approaches.

The platforms are aimed at exploring the full potential of VET institutions to play a proactive role in support of growth and innovation.

These are international cooperation partnerships between organisations active in the field of youth in EU Member States, third countries associated to the programme, and third countries not associated to the programme.

Projects support the international exchanges, cooperation and policy dialogue in the field of youth and non-formal learning, to enhance the sustainable socio-economic development and well-being of young people.

They will:

• Provide young people with opportunities to engage with, and learn to participate in civic society.

Small-scale Partnerships aim to widen access to the Erasmus+ programme for small-scale actors and individuals who are hard to reach in the fields of school education, adult education, vocational education and training and youth.

Grants are for low levels of finance, for projects of short duration.

There are simple administrative requirements Grants are particularly relevant for newcomers to Erasmus+, particularly for organisations with smaller organisational capacity.

The Creative Innovation Lab will incentivise players from all cultural and creative sectors to design and test innovative digital solutions with potential positive long-term impact on multiple cultural and creative sectors.

The Lab will facilitate the creation of innovative solutions (e.g. tools, models and methodologies) that can apply to the audiovisual sector and at least another creative and/or cultural sector. Solutions should be easily replicable and have potential for market penetration.

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