On 23 March 2026, EIT Culture & Creativity inaugurated its Malta office in partnership with Xjenza Malta, the national agency for innovation - a significant step in strengthening cultural and creative sectors across the Mediterranean.
Located at Villa Bighi in Kalkara, the new EIT Culture & Creativity Malta office will serve as a national contact point, connecting Malta’s creatives, researchers, entrepreneurs and organisations to Europe’s innovation ecosystem.
Its inauguration took place at the Esplora Planetarium Hall, bringing together over 70 participants, including government representatives, industry stakeholders and Malta’s creative community. Their presence reflected a shared understanding: this is not simply an administrative milestone, but a collective commitment to placing innovation at the heart of Malta’s cultural and creative industries.
A shared vision for Malta’s creative future
The event opened with a high-level vision from Maltese leaders that set an inspiring tone for the day.
Keith Azzopardi Tanti, Parliamentary Secretary for Youth, Research and Innovation, emphasised the importance of connecting Maltese creatives, researchers and entrepreneurs to a strong European innovation network, opening new pathways for collaboration, investment and growth. Alison Zerafa Civelli, Parliamentary Secretary for Local Government and Culture, highlighted the office’s dual role as both a cultural asset and an engine of economic and social development, positioning creativity as a driver of sustainable growth across the Maltese islands.
Representing EIT Culture & Creativity, CEO Anette Schaefer what this new presence enables: closer collaboration with a region whose creative ecosystem is active, internationally connected and ready to scale. She noted that the Malta office builds on existing EIT initiatives while creating new structures for local organisations to increase their reach and impact.
This strategic direction was further detailed by Angelica Monaco, Director of the EIT Culture & Creativity Regional Hub South, and Omar Cutajar, Senior Director for Strategy, Research and Technical Affairs at Xjenza Malta. Together, they clarified how the new office will:
- Facilitate access to EIT Culture & Creativity programmes and funding instruments
- Connect Malta’s creative actors to the wider European network
- Serve as a platform for partnership building and project development.
These perspectives underline that the new Malta office represents a long-term commitment to strengthening the country’s role within the Mediterranean creative innovation landscape.
What if creativity could shape Europe’s Future?
Angelica Monaco went to open a stakeholder workshop with a keynote, built around the central question: ‘What if creativity could save Europe’s future? The untold story of cultural innovation.’
The framing reflects a growing body of evidence that cultural and creative industries are not peripheral sectors. They are systemic forces capable of reshaping how Europe innovates, competes and collaborates. The session also brought into focus key challenges facing the sector, and the actions needed to strengthen its competitiveness - from improving skills and entrepreneurial capacity, to boosting innovation readiness across creative organisations.
A session on Societal Transformation and the New European Bauhaus followed, delivered remotely by Ambra Trotto, Director of Transformation at EIT Culture & Creativity. Ambra and her team highlighted two of our organisation’s most forward-looking programmatic areas: embedding creative practices into processes of societal change, and advancing the New European Bauhaus as a framework for more sustainable, inclusive and beautiful ways of living.
These themes resonate strongly across the EIT Culture & Creativity Regional Hub South, where heritage, craftsmanship, architecture and contemporary creative practice intersect in distinctive and dynamic ways.
Unlocking Capital: discussing finance for Malta’s creative ventures
The afternoon featured a panel on access to finance for creative ventures, moderated by Javier Arias, Director of Business Creation at EIT Culture & Creativity. Following a brief overview of Malta’s innovation trajectory and the role of EIT Culture & Creativity, the panelists - Miguel Borg (Malta Venture Capital), Mark Scicluna Bartoli (Bank of Valletta p.l.c.), Adrian Galea (BITKRAFT Ventures) and Ivan Filletti (GamingMalta Foundation) - reacted to three provocative statements that challenged common assumptions about funding in the creative sector.
The discussion made several points clear: capital is not limited to tech-driven ventures; AI-related efficiency is just one of many evaluation criteria; and rejection often comes down to timing, not capability.
Panellists also explored how creative startups can navigate grants, equity and debt, what signals show readiness for investment, and how Malta can strengthen its creative capital market towards 2035 through better instruments, stronger founder readiness and improved investor understanding.
Site visits across Malta’s creative landscape
Following the inauguration, the EIT Culture & Creativity Regional Hub South team visited four key organisations across Malta’s creative sectors, providing firsthand engagement with the ecosystem:
- Arts Council Malta - The primary public body supporting arts and culture across the island, and a Cooperation Partner of EIT Culture & Creativity.
- GamingMalta - A globally recognised player at the intersection of technology, entertainment and creative practice.
- Valletta Design Cluster - A space where architectural heritage meets contemporary creative innovation.
- PBS (Public Broadcasting Services) Malta - A central pillar of Malta’s audiovisual and media landscape.
The visits were a reflection of Malta’s vibrant and diverse creative sector, spanning heritage, gaming, architecture, audiovisual media and fashion. Far from being peripheral, Malta has an active, internationally connected ecosystem with clear pathways to growth - and EIT Culture & Creativity is now a key part of it.
Building a stronger network for Southern Europe
The new Malta office will operate as part of the EIT Culture & Creativity Regional Hub South, which covers 9 countries across the Mediterranean, and will work in close collaboration with the EIT Community Hub Malta.
The inauguration marks the beginning of a sustained engagement. In the months ahead, the Malta office will focus on:
- Connecting Malta-based creatives, researchers and organisations to EIT Culture & Creativity’s open calls, programmes and funding opportunities
- Fostering partnerships and project development across the ecosystem
- Supporting the upcoming EIT Regional Innovation Booster pilot announced by Xjenza Malta
- Deepening collaboration with partners and expanding the network of organisations engaged with EIT Culture & Creativity Regional Hub South
For Malta’s creative community, the office at Xjenza Malta provides a gateway into EIT Culture & Creativity’s European network. The work ahead is to translate this presence into tangible collaboration, investment and innovation. The future is rich with potential, and this inauguration is just the beginning.