The Governing Board of the European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT) has selected the ICE Partnership to establish the EIT Culture & Creativity. The ninth Innovation Community is set to start operations in 2023 with the mission to boost the competitiveness of European Cultural and Creative Sectors and Industries (CCSI) and strengthening their role as drivers of prosperity for Europe.
The ICE- Innovation by Creative Economy partnership, coordinated by Fraunhofer and chaired by interim CEO, Bernd Fesel, was selected from among five consortia in a process finalised on June 22nd, in Budapest, Hungary. The winning proposition is designed to unlock the latent value of the cultural and creative sectors and industries to become a gamer changer for Europe’s Green, The new pan-European partnership can expect to split approximately EUR 300 million of EIT funding under Horizon Europe (dedicated funding for two new EIT Knowledge and Innovation Communities to be launched during the 2021-2027 EU funding period) with the possibility to leverage more funds from the private and public sector.
Upon the “Created in Europe” motto, the ICE partnership assembles a carefully crafted pan-European consortium of 50 excellent universities, research institutions, companies, investors, and associations relevant to all CCSI in 20 nations. “Diversity is the front door to innovation. We are proud to have built a consortium that is diverse in many ways, but especially one that honours the nature of European CCSI: ours is a sector made by multitude of SMEs and very small players”, says Bernd Fesel, Interim CEO and spokesperson of the winning team.
The CCSI are key drivers of economic growth and job creation across Europe. They account for 5.5 percent of the EU’s total GDP and 6.2 percent of Europe’s workforce, 80% for all 2.9 million CCSI companies are small and micro enterprises. At the same time, they are not just business -they stand for European diversity as well as its unity. EIT Culture & Creativity will be key to support Europe’s recovery and cohesion. “This will be an Open innovation Community: open to entrepreneurs, artists, freelancers, social innovators, cultural agents. Innovation and change are possible when all the players -the large and the small, for profit and non-profit meet- at eye level in collaboration spaces for addressing pressing societal challenges”, concludes Fesel.
With headquarters in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, EIT Culture & Creativity will have six subsidiary offices, called Co-Location Centres, in Amsterdam, Barcelona, Bologna, Helsinki, Kosice and Vienna. These regional hubs will realise this open vocation by engaging and channelling needs and expectations of local and regional ecosystems and provide relevant KIC services suited to each ecosystem and stakeholder groups, including students, startups, VC investors, and policy makers.
