Boosting creative startups for disruptive innovation

Expected Outcome:

Projects should contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• Deepened knowledge of specific factors favouring the growth of creative startups^[1], in particular those with potential for disruptive innovation^[2] and/or cross-sectorial innovation impacts, is made available and promoted to policymakers, investors, funding- and enterprise support bodies.
• Effective methods to favour the growth of creative startups, in particular those with potential for disruptive innovation and/or cross-sectorial innovation impacts, are developed, tested and put in practice by industry, investors, funding- and enterprise support bodies, and relevant decision makers.
• Examples of creative startups scaling up and/or engaging in disruptive innovation are made available, with a view to increase the visibility and recognition of the innovative power of Europe’s creative startups.

In addition, proposals should contribute to at least one of the following expected outcomes, depending on the option chosen (a or b below):

• The effectiveness of the methods developed is demonstrated by at least one creative startup supported via the action becoming a scaleup^[3] in a Member State or an Associated Country.
• The effectiveness of the methods developed is demonstrated by at least one creative startup or scaleup supported via the action succeeding in bringing a disruptive innovation to the market.

Scope:

The cultural and creative industries (CCIs) count a high rate of startups. Data indicate that CCIs are among the early adopters of new technologies, especially in the digital realm. For instance, the European Monitor of Industrial Ecosystems (2024)^[4] notes that artificial intelligence-based technology startups were most common among the CCIs and in the health sector. Furthermore, creative startups drive innovation through crossovers with other sectors. They can be a motor of growth in local economies, unlocking opportunities, investment, jobs and higher productivity. That is why a host of initiatives like creative clusters, innovation hubs, smart specialisation strategies, innovation ecosystems, etc. foster the emergence of creative startups. Also at EU level, there are a number of initiatives to support startups and/or cultural and creative industries^[5], and there is a clearly stated ambition to make EU the preferred choice for startups and scaleups, as expressed in the EU Startup and Scaleup Strategy^[6].

However, in order to better support European creative startups to grow into scaleups and to multiply their potential as high-impact disruptive innovators, in line with the EU Startup and Scaleup Strategy, additional measures are needed.

The challenge is to deepen the knowledge of the most important factors that favour the scaling up of creative startups in Europe and unleashing their potential for disruptive innovation, with a particular focus on those factors that distinguish them from startups in other sectors.

Proposals are expected to focus either on:

Option a: Boosting the growth of creative startups into scaleups.

Option b: Boosting creative startups or scaleups with a potential for disruptive innovation.

Proposals should clearly indicate the option they have selected.

Approaches should be devised that boost the growth of creative startups in Europe and/or encourage engaging in disruptive innovation. Approaches developed may build on existing methods, such as shared technological resources/platforms to lower investments needs, credible assessments of technologies, IPR or of creative companies to increase investor readiness, matchmaking platforms, etc. However, the approaches to be developed under this action should be innovative and go beyond the existing ones. They should be effective and feasible across Europe under the current legal framework.

In order to validate and refine the proposed approaches, projects should carry out at least 3 pilot trials in different settings under real-world like conditions. These should involve piloting the scaling-up of a creative startup or positioning a creative startup/scaleup for bringing disruptive innovation to the market, according to the option chosen (a or b above). Financial support to third parties may be considered, with the aim of engaging diverse innovative creative startups, facilitating the uptake of solutions devised by the projects, experimenting with innovative approaches, or engaging other funders in co-financing.

To the extent appropriate, projects should build on and take advantage of previous research, networks, policy initiatives and infrastructure at European and national levels. This may include building on results of or structures developed by relevant R&I projects funded under Horizon Europe or other EU funding programmes that focus on boosting the innovation potential of CCIs, the EIT Knowledge and Innovation Community ‘EIT Culture and Creativity’^[7], or other relevant projects and networks. Such existing networks and infrastructures may also include business incubators or accelerators, venture capital networks^[8], etc.

To the extent appropriate, the Commission expects projects funded under this topic to establish coordination mechanisms in order to achieve the strongest possible common impact. One such area of cooperation could be communication and dissemination efforts.

The Commission estimates that a project duration of at least 4 years is appropriate, in order to be able to achieve the expected outcomes.

[1] In the context of this topic, a ‘creative startup’ should be understood as a private company that falls under the definition of cultural and creative industries as defined in the European Parliament Resolution ‘A coherent EU policy for cultural and creative industries’ (https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52016IP0486&from=EN), is younger than ten years and has an innovative product and/or service and/or business model that it aims to scale up.

[2] In the context of this topic, ‘disruptive innovation’ should be understood in the sense used by the European Innovation Council, but with no requirement to be based on deep tech; as an innovation which radically changes the way of operation (‘of doing things’), and therefore creates new market(s) or has a significant impact on current markets, on economic activity of firms and/or on the public sector or society at large.

[3] The definition of scaleups by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) requires that a company grows at an annual rate of 20% or more over three consecutive years in terms of number of employees or turnover. In the context of this call topic, such growth rate in one year / 2 consecutive years is sufficient.

[4] SWD(2024) 77 final https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52024SC0077

[5] E.g. the EIT Culture & Creativity KIC , Cultural and Creative Regional Ecosystems , Digital Innovation Hubs in the cultural and creative sectors , Creative Innovation Labs

[6] See further COM(2025) 270 https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/document/download/2f76a0df-b09b-47c2-949c-800c30e4c530_en

[7] https://eit-culture-creativity.eu/

[8] Such as for instance https://eic.ec.europa.eu/eic-fund/trusted-investors-network_en