Open Letter to the European Commission

Dear President of the European Commission,
Dear Commissioners,
Dear Members of the European Innovation Community,

We, the undersigned organisations from across Europe’s Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs), write to urge the European Commission to place cultural, social, and creative intelligence at the centre of Europe’s next research and innovation framework. Europe stands at a critical moment shaped by climate urgency, technological transitions, rising geopolitical tensions, and widening societal fragmentation. Responding effectively to these challenges requires innovation systems that do more than generate technological breakthroughs—they must strengthen democratic resilience, societal cohesion, and citizen engagement.

Europe holds a powerful but undervalued asset for meeting these challenges: its Cultural and Creative Industries. CCIs contribute deep user understanding, futures literacy, co‑creation methods, societal imagination, and participatory innovation practices—capacities fundamental for designing transitions that work for people, communities, and society as a whole. Yet despite their proven value, CCIs remain structurally marginalised in EU research and innovation programmes.

Initiatives such as ekip have shown what becomes possible when CCIs are integrated early and strategically into innovation ecosystems. Cities including Rotterdam, Tallinn, Lund, Bratislava, St Etienne, Tampere, Stockholm, Matera, and Košice have demonstrated that CCIs enhance foresight, shape CCI‑centred experimentation, and enable new forms of cross‑sector collaboration. These experiences underline the need for new ecosystem structures capable of harnessing cultural and creative intelligence across all stages of innovation.

To build a future‑ready and culturally grounded innovation system, we call on the European Commission to adopt the following ten policy actions:

1. Recognise CCIs as strategic actors in EU innovation. Formally embed CCIs across FP10 governance and ensure cultural and societal perspectives inform decision‑making.
2. Integrate cultural and innovation policy frameworks. Establish governance mechanisms that align the values‑driven logic of cultural policy with the scale‑oriented logic of innovation policy.
3. Reform innovation ecosystem infrastructure and building blocks. Redesign intermediaries, testbeds, and evaluation systems to support open innovation and cross‑sector creativity.
4. Create new access models for CCIs. Adapt evaluation criteria and consortium structures so that creative micro‑enterprises and studios can participate meaningfully.
5. Strengthen Europe’s bridge‑builders. Identify and support organisations working at the intersections of culture, technology, science, and policy.
6. Align Smart Specialisation Strategies with CCI strategies. Ensure regional and national innovation priorities integrate cultural and creative drivers.
7. Promote resilient and cross‑sector innovation pathways. Advance areas such as AI for creative workflows, immersive media, eco-design, and cultural participation.
8. Ensure CCIs are eligible across all European Competitiveness Fund windows. Position CCIs as essential contributors to digital, green, resilience, and industrial priorities.
9. Leverage Regulatory Sandboxes with CCIs. Design sandboxes that enable creative experimentation and evidence‑based regulatory learning.
10. Establish a continuous foresight mechanism linked to an EU‑wide CCI platform. Systematically translate emerging trends into actionable innovation policy.

Europe’s cultural and creative strengths are foundational to its identity, resilience, and global influence. As FP10 is shaped, we call on the European Commission to build an innovation system that fully reflects these strengths — and to unlock the transformative power of open, inclusive, culturally grounded innovation.

We invite organisations across Europe’s Cultural and Creative Industries to co‑sign this letter and join us in advocating for an innovation framework that matches the ambitions and values of Europe.