EIT Culture & Creativity is pleased to announce the results of its first Education Call for Master’s & PhD Modules, marking an important milestone in strengthening Europe’s talent pipeline for the Cultural and Creative Sectors and Industries (CCSI).
The selected modules, developed by leading universities, research institutions, and industry partners across Europe, will be embedded within existing academic programmes and equip students with entrepreneurial mindsets, future-ready skills, and advanced technological competences.
Following a highly competitive selection process, six modules have been selected for funding, each receiving up to €275,000. The projects span Architecture, Audiovisual Media, Cultural Heritage, and Gaming, with a strong emphasis on entrepreneurship education, emerging technologies, and cross-sector collaboration. This targeted investment underlines EIT Culture & Creativity’s mission to support excellence in course design and delivery while enabling scalable, sustainable, and impact-driven education models across Europe’s creative ecosystem.
Ranging from cultural heritage placemaking and audiovisual innovation, to gaming entrepreneurship, applied serious games, and doctoral research on space architecture and impact-driven gaming, the selected modules reflect the diversity and innovation capacity of Europe’s CCSI. Together, they respond directly to pressing skills needs in the sector and reinforce EIT Culture & Creativity’s commitment to lifelong learning, reskilling, and upskilling.
Aligned with the EIT Culture & Creativity Strategic Agenda, all selected projects will benefit from tailored support, European-level visibility, and access to a growing network of academic, industry, and investment partners. With a strong focus on RIS inclusivity, gender balance, and digital innovation, the call contributes directly to enhancing the competitiveness, resilience, and long-term sustainability of Europe’s Cultural and Creative Sectors and Industries.
Selected Master’s & PhD Modules:
1. Cultural Heritage (Master) – CHAMP Project Leader: Lunds Universitet (Sweden) Partners: Creative Insights Studio AB (Sweden), Bloom Creative Technologies SIA (Latvia), Helsingborg Municipality (Sweden), and Creative Institute Trencin n.o. (Slovakia).
CHAMP (Creativity, Heritage and Placemaking Module) builds on Lund University’s MSc in Service Development and Entrepreneurship in Cultural and Creativity Management. The module integrates entrepreneurship, placemaking, and cultural heritage into a cross-disciplinary, applied learning experience. Students develop entrepreneurial, digital, and critical-thinking skills to transform heritage assets into socially inclusive and economically sustainable community initiatives.
2. Audio-Visual Media (Master) – BYTE - Film Project Leader: COFAC, Lusófona University (Portugal) Partners: SP Televisao S.A (Portugal), Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design & Technology (Ireland), FilmEU Alliance, Baltic Film, Media and Arts School Tallinn University (Estonia), LUCA School of Arts (Belgium), The Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre (Lithuania), National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts (Bulgaria), Academy of Performing Arts (Slovakia), and VIA University College (Denmark).
BYTE – Film (Bridging Young Talent and Entrepreneurship in the Film and Audio-Visual Industries) equips emerging professionals with entrepreneurial skills to leverage disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence and extended reality. The module fosters innovation-driven creativity and supports new business models in Europe’s audiovisual sector.
3. Gaming (Master) – SERIOUS Project leader: Instituto Politécnico de Leiria (Portugal) Partners: Startup Leiria (Portugal), and Montanuniversitaet Leoben (Austria).
SERIOUS (Serious Games for Industrial Innovation) addresses a critical skills gap between the gaming sector and Europe's traditional industries. The module merges game design with industrial engineering to train a new professional profile: the "Applied Game Designer", capable of translating complex industrial challenges into effective serious games for areas such as logistics, process optimisation, and safety.
4. Gaming (Master) – GAMERISE Project leader: University of Ljubljana, School of Economics and Business (Slovenia) Partners: Moon Forest Bt (Hungary), Outfit 7 (Slovenia) and Fil Rouge Capital (Croatia).
GAMERISE (Gaming Entrepreneurship for RIS Ecosystems) is a credit-bearing venture-builder guiding interdisciplinary student teams from idea to investable gaming start-ups. Over eight sprint weeks, participants move from problem exploration to prototype, market testing, and venture planning. The programme culminates in a Demo Day with investors and industry partners and places strong emphasis on RIS ecosystems.
5. Gaming (PhD) – HERO-IG Project leader: University of Bologna (Italy) Partners: Doc Creativity Soc. Coop. (Italy), Université Paris 8 Vincennes Saint-Denis (France), and Develop-Players Srl (Italy).
HERO-IG (Health and Education Research through Open Innovation in Gaming) is a PhD-level module training a new generation of researchers and professionals in applied gaming. The programme combines theoretical foundations with hands-on practice in education, health, and social impact, while integrating entrepreneurial, ethical, and societal perspectives. With strong interdisciplinarity and cross-border collaboration, HERO-IG enhances employability across both technical and humanities-based career paths.
6. Architecture (PhD) – DEXTER Project leader: Université Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium)
Partners: Evolutionary Archetypes Consulting SL (Spain), and EIT Digital IVZW (Belgium).
DEXTER (Doctoral Design for Extreme Environments: Space Architecture & Space Habitats) uses space settlement as a driver for sustainable and entrepreneurial innovation on Earth. Designing extreme environments inspires solutions for circular construction, modular housing, renewable energy, and climate resilience. The module combines speculative design, VR/AR, generative tools, and engineering expertise, enabling doctoral candidates to translate visionary ideas into technically feasible and market-relevant solutions.