EIT Culture & Creativity, the institutional partnership for Europe’s cultural and creative sectors and industries, supported by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union, has entered a strategic collaboration with the New European Bauhaus (NEB) to further embed its values of beauty, sustainability, and inclusion into the core of Europe’s innovation agenda.

The collaboration comes at a pivotal moment for Europe in its green, digital, and social transitions. Innovation can no longer be measured solely by technology or growth – it must also reflect resilience, imagination, and societal participation. This collaboration brings the power of culture, creativity, and design into Europe’s innovation ecosystems.

“Culture and creativity are not peripheral to innovation; they are its deepest sources for resilience. Creative practices offer not only solutions, but ways of seeing, sensing, and imagining the world differently. This collaboration allows us to mobilise the full potential of culture and design to regenerate our systems – bringing meaning, care and direction to how we innovate across Europe”, stated Ambra Trotto, Director of Transformation and NEB at EIT Culture & Creativity.

This action reinforces the existing synergies between the EIT and the NEB, established through the EIT Community NEB.

A triple initiative for change

The collaboration begins with three flagship initiatives across education, enterprise, and regional transformation, laying the groundwork for a European model of innovation that is both competitive and cohesive:

• NEB Academy – Ensuring lasting impact: A feasibility plan is underway to shape a long-term model for the NEB Academy and strengthen its role in reskilling Europe’s construction workforce for an inclusive and sustainable transformation of the built environment. Building on the existing structure, EIT Culture & Creativity will provide its entrepreneurial expertise and creative methods to ensure the Academy’s self-sustained strategic growth and impact across higher and professional education.
• NEB Fashion Adaptor – Circular practices for creative enterprises: This initiative supports independent fashion micro-enterprises and SMEs with mentorship, training, and pilot funding planned for 2026, to adopt sustainable and circular practices. The 10-week programme starting in autumn 2025 will tackle overproduction, material waste, and transparency, showing how creative industries can lead Europe’s green transformation. Applications are open until 15 September 2025.
• NEB Systemic Narratives: Engaging networks from the NEB Lighthouse projects, along with other demonstrator projects putting NEB principles into practice, this initiative develops learning journeys to strengthen understanding of systemic transformation. It equips policymakers, practitioners, and communities with tools to scale the NEB approach and feed back into Europe’s innovation policies.

Together, these initiatives signal a shift in Europe’s innovation model: from linear, growth-driven approaches to one that is collaborative, regenerative, and democratic. This collaboration reinforces Europe’s competitiveness while safeguarding cohesion, sustainability, and resilience at every level. 

“By working hand in hand with the New European Bauhaus, we are advancing a European vision of innovation that is competitive, sustainable, and socially cohesive. Culture and creativity are essential for shaping this transformation’”, stated Anette Schaefer, CEO of EIT Culture & Creativity.