European Union
The Commission has launched the call for proposal Creative Innovation Lab under the cross-sectoral strand of Creative Europe programme. The call aims to reply to the structural and technological needs of the cultural and media sectors to keep up with the fast-evolving environment, by empowering initiatives that can bring a wide impact.
Through Creative Innovation Lab, the EU aims to support projects that design, develop and/or spread innovative tools, models, or solutions applicable in the European audiovisual (AV) and other cultural and creative sectors (CCSs) to improve their competitiveness and pave the way towards more environmental practices. The grants will therefore allow organisations to untap the opportunities offered by the development of Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Worlds and other.
The Creative Innovation Lab grant is the golden chance to think out of the box and test new ideas. From simple yet useful solutions to complex models, the Commission is calling out for proposals with the ambition to pilot ideas with the potential to change the creative industries. The available budget totals EUR 7.4 million and will be distributed among several selected projects. The maximum Commission co-financing rate is 70% of the total eligible costs.
The variety of previously funded projects shows the richness of this call. These include Creative Web3 Experience Europe (CWXP) coordinated by Get a Gig, exploring the opportunities of Web3, AI, metaverse and NFT for the creative sector; Unlock the Community by Usheru, focused on audience development for audiovisual and cultural organisations; and more recently CREA Trust AI coordinated by Panodissey, dedicated to AI and interoperability to improve the creation, monetisation, dissemination and distribution of content; and EBB-AI coordinated by EBB, working on the development of an innovative platform enabling cultural institutions and artists to promote their works thanks to artificial intelligence, while respecting copyright.
More on this call for proposals
Replay the info session (12 January 2024)
Basic information
The conditions outlined below are based on the call. In case of discrepancy, the text in the call prevails.
What is the timeframe of this grant?
Applicants can send their proposals until the 25th April 2024. Selected projects will be announced around October 2024 and run for maximum 24 months.
What is the scope of this grant?
Cross-sectoral cooperation between the audiovisual and other cultural and creative sectors is at the heart of this call for proposals. Proposals must target the audiovisual sector and include at least one other cultural sector. The AV sector includes feature films, animations and creative documentaries intended primarily for cinematic release; fiction, animation and documentary one-off series for TV or digital platform exploitation; content and narrative video games and immersive experiences and interactive content.
Who is eligible for this grant?
You can apply to the call if you are a European entity established in one of the countries participating in the Creative Europe programme and owned directly or indirectly, wholly or by majority participation, by nationals from such countries. Entities include private companies, non-profit organisations, associations, charities, foundations, municipalities, town councils, public authorities, universities, educational institutions, research centres etc. The spectrum is very wide, going from tech companies and start-ups, to audiovisual, cultural and creative organisations, business incubators and accelerators.
What type of innovations are eligible?
Projects must focus on one (or several) of the below topics:
- Virtual worlds as a new environment for the promotion of European audiovisual content, audience renewal and competitiveness of European content industries;
- Innovative business tools for production, financing, distribution or promotion enabled or enhanced by new technology (AI, big data, blockchain, Virtual Worlds, NFT, etc.). Proposed projects could explore rights’ management and monetisation (including innovative bundled subscription offers to access diverse European cultural content from various existing European platforms), at the same time ensuring transparency and fair remuneration for creators and artists. Proposed projects could also delve into data collection and analysis, with particular emphasis on prediction for content creation and audience development (including innovative cross-sectoral tools to improve the quality of the subscriber service and a better valorisation of European content offered by European online platforms);
- “Greener” practices in order to lower the impact on the environment of the AV and other CCS in line with the Commission’s Green Deal and the New Bauhaus initiative.
How are proposals evaluated?
The submitted proposals will be evaluated upon clear award criteria stated in the official documents. These criteria include the relevance of the project for the call’s objectives, its European dimension, the coherence of the project in terms of feasibility, cost-efficiency and management and the dissemination capacities.
Where can I find more information?
- This call for proposals is part of the Creative Europe programme. The programme has information points in every participating country (known as Creative Europe “desks”) that can help applicants, providing information and assisting in the preparation of proposals. You are thus strongly recommended to contact the Creative Europe desk in your country to understand the call requirements and receive step-by-step guidance on the administrative and policy objectives needs.
- You may find all the official documents about the call published in the Tender and Funding Opportunities Portal.
- For questions please contact: EACEA-CROSS-INNOVLAB@ec.europa.eu.
See also:
- Discover the Creative Europe programme and its funding opportunities for the creative and cultural sectors.
- Learn more about the New European Bauhaus (NEB), a creative and interdisciplinary initiative that brings a cultural and creative dimension to the European Green Deal and connects it to our living spaces and experiences.
- Find out about the European Green Deal, the Commission’s initiative to reach climate-neutrality.