EIT Culture & Creativity opens €10.5m in start-up funding

The call, named Innovation Projects, targets startups, scale-ups, and SMEs in fashion, architecture, and audiovisual media. Up to 11 projects will be funded in the implementation phase, with up to €900,000 available per project.

Thematic priorities for the call include circular textile technologies, bio-based building materials, and responsible AI for content creation, alongside other innovations directly relevant to the EU’s green, digital, and social transition goals.

Focused on market validation, pilot deployment, and scaling, the programme supports innovations entering at TRL 7, where a system prototype has been demonstrated in an operational environment, and progressing to TRL 9, where the actual system is proven in an operational environment.

The call runs in two stages, allowing both applicants and EIT Culture & Creativity to build evidence before committing to full implementation. In the first stage, a single company submits a concept proposal. Selected applicants receive €20,000 to develop a full business development plan, strengthen market and customer validation, define the go-to-market pathway, and assess the financing required for implementation and scale, including external investment where relevant.

In stage two, the strongest plans proceed to a full implementation phase of up to 18 months, with funding of up to €900,000 per project to execute the go-to-market plan, accelerate market adoption and prepare the solution for scale.

Access to EIT Culture & Creativity's pan-European ecosystem – industry partners, customers, investors and distribution networks across more than 30 countries – is central to how selected projects enter the market. The programme provides high-level matchmaking to connect companies with customers, investors and strategic partners, as well as commercial visibility through Demo Days and the network's flagship Innovation Forum. Where relevant, support will also be provided to connect companies with external capital and strengthen investment readiness.

The commercial case for this call in the audiovisual sector revolves around the increasingly rapid changes generative AI is making to the industry. The funding is intended to help players respond in time with technically validated solutions that would otherwise stall before market adoption because of gaps in customer access, go-to-market capacity, partnerships, and growth capital.

“Europe is not short of creative innovation. The challenge is turning validated solutions into products and services that customers adopt at scale,” said Anette Schaefer, CEO, EIT Culture & Creativity. “We are not funding ideas or early-stage prototyping. We are backing companies with a validated innovation and helping them build a credible go-to-market pathway – creating a pipeline of investable CCSI companies.”

EIT Culture & Creativity also recently opened a funding call offering up to €8.6m in funding and tailored acceleration support for creative European tech start-ups operating in architecture, audiovisual media, and fashion. Discover more here.