The Creative Innovation Lab support shall support the design, development and/or spread of innovative tools, models or solutions applicable in the audiovisual (compulsory) and at least one the following sectors: music, books or museums.

Description of the activities to be funded:

Projects must focus on one (or several) of the below topics:

• Virtual Worlds as a new environment for the promotion of European content, audience renewal and competitiveness of European content industries;
• Innovative Business Tools for production, financing, distribution or promotion enabled or enhanced by new technology (AI, big data, blockchain, Virtual Worlds, NFT, etc.), in particular:
  • Rights’ management and monetisation (including innovative bundled subscription offers to access diverse European cultural content from various existing European platforms), at the same time ensuring transparency and fair remuneration for creators and artists;
  • Data collection and analysis, with particular emphasis on prediction for content creation and audience development (including innovative cross-sectoral tools to improve the quality of the subscriber service and a better valorisation of European content offered by European online platforms);
• “Greener” practices in order to lower the impact on the environment of the audiovisual and other cultural sectors in line with the Commission’s Green Deal and the New Bauhaus initiative.

Cross-sectoral cooperation between the audiovisual and other cultural and creative sectors is at the heart of the Call. Therefore, applications must clearly demonstrate the extent of the cross-sectoral approach, the conditions for its implementation and the expected benefits for the sectors covered.

Applications should present adequate strategies to ensure more sustainable and more environmentally-respectful industry and to ensure gender balance, inclusion, diversity and representativeness.

A wide spectrum of organisations will be invited to participate, including private and public entities, tech companies and start-ups, audiovisual, cultural and creative organisations. The participation of business incubators and accelerators shall be encouraged, to provide space and time for creative ideas to be shaped.

Before submitting, applicants are strongly advised to check the relevance and eligibility of their application with the domestic creative europe desk (https://culture.ec.europa.eu/resources/creative-europe-desks)

Deadline date: 23/4/2026

EU Funding & Tenders Portal Link: CREA-CROSS-2026-INNOVLAB