GSS EU Science Funding Gateway

EIT Culture & Creativity will support two types of programmes:

• Strand 1 (New CCSI Incubation & acceleration programmes) will focus on building new bespoke CCSI incubation and business creation programmes; and
• Strand 2 (RIS Capacity building: new CCSI Incubation & coaching programmes) will focus on building CCSI specific business creation support in RIS regions.

Applicants are encouraged to focus their proposed programmes on areas where existing CCSI business support expertise is lacking or underdeveloped. The CCSI specific incubation and acceleration programmes shall:

• target founders and start-ups from CCSI;
• be focused on CCSI specific value and venture models, the core economics of the business model, revenue generation for profit and non-profit venture models, and support during the first stages of the start-up, i.e., incubation and acceleration;
• cover topics such as business validation methodologies, market and customer understanding, financing, intellectual property in the CCSI, etc;
• cover activities including – but not limited to – training, expertise sharing, investment readiness, and bespoke workshops led by industry leaders and mentors;
• go beyond the state of the art, for example through cross-domain and cross-sector collaborations, industry cooperations or learning formats;
• attract investors and financing opportunities for the start-ups and scale-ups being supported through the programmes;
• ensure that EIT Culture & Creativity has full access to the participating start-ups and scale-ups;
• ensure that the programmes are branded as EIT Culture & Creativity services.

Programmes will be funded for an initial two-year period provided key milestones and deliverables are met. In this time, curricula should be developed, and a first batch of start-ups should have completed the programmes. Successful projects will be able to apply for additional financial support to continue activities in 2026 and 2027.