EIT Culture & Creativity opens €10.5m innovation fund
September 25, 2026 12.29 Europe/London By Julian Clover


EIT Culture & Creativity has launched a €10.5 million funding programme designed to help European creative-sector companies take validated technologies to market.

The Innovation Projects call is aimed at startups, scale-ups and SMEs working in fashion, architecture and audiovisual media. Up to 11 projects will ultimately receive funding, with as much as €900,000 available for each project.

Rather than supporting early-stage concepts, the programme is targeting companies that already have a technically validated prototype or solution at Technology Readiness Level 7 (TRL 7). The aim is to help projects progress towards TRL 9 and commercial deployment.

Audiovisual priorities include responsible AI for content creation, with EIT Culture & Creativity highlighting the speed at which generative AI is reshaping the sector and the difficulties companies can face turning technically proven innovations into commercially viable products.

“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 of EIT Culture & Creativity.

The programme will operate in two stages. Initially, individual companies can submit concept proposals, with successful applicants receiving €20,000 to develop a full Business Development Plan, including customer and market validation, financing requirements and a go-to-market strategy.

Up to 11 of the strongest projects will then move to an implementation phase lasting up to 18 months, with funding of up to €900,000 each. Participants will also have access to EIT Culture & Creativity’s network of customers, investors and industry partners across more than 30 countries.

The organisation says the programme is intended to address the gap between technical validation and market adoption, including access to customers, commercial partnerships and growth capital.

Applications for the first stage close on 30 October 2026. The second-stage deadline for companies selected from the initial round is 15 March 2027.