AI4Creatives Support Platform: embracing a fair AI revolution

Europe’s rich cultural heritage and strong creative industries not only reflect our past but also shape our future. It is by building on this foundation and developing our strengths that we can face the great challenges of our time with confidence and shape a desirable common future. Europe's cultural heritage originates from the interaction between people and places through time and is constantly evolving^[1]. Every citizen has a right to engage with the cultural heritage of their choice, while respecting the rights and freedoms of others, as an aspect of the right to participate freely in cultural life^[2].

Europe’s diverse tangible and intangible cultural heritage and dynamic cultural and creative industries (CCIs) are strategic assets. They enrich our lives, foster social cohesion and societal resilience, and contribute to a sense of belonging. They underpin a growing economy that generates more employment than the automotive industry and a similar trade balance as food, drinks and tobacco combined. Many of Europe’s multinational companies build their international success on European heritage and creativity. At the same time, the sector is nurturing large numbers of dynamic small, medium (SMEs) and micro enterprises, creating employment not the least for young people, while deploying their creativity not only to generate income but also to contribute to social and cultural sustainability, wellbeing and to projecting European values at home and abroad. The cultural and creative industries are engines of innovation not only in themselves, but across the entire economy, thus contributing strongly to Europe’s overall competitiveness and future prosperity.

This destination adopts a people-centred perspective and places cultural heritage and the cultural and creative industries at the very heart of the European economy, its competitiveness and sustainability. R&I activities under this destination will be aligned with the main principles and objectives of the Culture Compass for Europe and support objectives such as circular and just fashion and textiles value-chains, social cohesion and resilience through arts, design and cultural practices and creative entrepreneurial ecosystems for regional development. R&I activities under this destination will support and strengthen European cultural heritage and cultural and creative industries essentially along the following lines:

Europe’s sustainable prosperity and competitiveness: To secure Europe’s future prosperity and competitiveness, it is necessary to unlock the innovative power of our cultural heritage and CCIs. The CCIs contribute strongly to drive innovation not only in themselves but also in other industries and economic sectors, shape new technologies and can contribute to user-driven innovation, open innovation and cross-sectoral innovation, in addition to their wider societal contributions such as to cultural wealth, social cohesion and resilience.

R&I actions under this area will focus on boosting the innovation-driving role of the CCIs, on creative startups, on the impact of artificial intelligence technologies on creativity and CCIs, while ensuring that new technologies are fairly deployed, along with the contributions of artistic intelligence and soft skills, boosting a circular economy and global partnerships in cultural policies and CCIs, among other things.

Supporting people, strengthening our societies and our social model: Cultural heritage, the arts and the CCIs have a crucial role to play for resilient and socially sustainable societies, shaping and strengthening the values that hold us together and give meaning and a sense of belonging.

R&I actions under this area will focus on boosting the role of culture, the arts and creative industries in contributing to well-being, to the social economy and in general the societal impact of cultural heritage. R&I actions will explore and strengthen the role of culture, heritage and CCIs in shaping the technologies of the future and focus on safeguarding intangible heritage and linguistic diversity, on sustainable cultural tourism and on countering illicit trafficking of cultural goods, among others.

Some actions funded under this Destination will need access to and/or generate data. Where appropriate, actions should leverage the data and services available through European Research Infrastructures federated under the European Open Science Cloud or included in the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) and the ESFRI roadmap, as well as data from relevant European Data Spaces. In particular, projects that produce data or digital tools of potential interest to cultural heritage institutions or researchers should, as appropriate, establish links to and/or consider integrating their results in the European Collaborative Cloud for Cultural Heritage (ECCCH)^[3].Particular efforts should be made to ensure that the data produced in the context of actions under this Destination is FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Re-usable).

The innovation ecosystems created and nurtured by the Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), in particular the KIC “EIT Culture and Creativity”, may contribute to actions under this destination, and may as appropriate be considered by applicants. Furthermore, applicants are invited to consult funding opportunities in other parts of the Horizon Europe Work Programme, including for instance the funding opportunities for companies, high potential start-ups, entrepreneurs and innovative researchers offered under the European Innovation Council.

R&I actions under this Destination will help ensure Europe’s sustainable prosperity and competitiveness, support people, strengthening our societies and our social model, contribute to protecting our democracy, upholding our values and boosting a global Europe, leveraging our power and partnerships. They will contribute to reaching the UN Sustainable Development Goals and to building a stronger, more participatory and crisis-resilient society and economy. They will support the realisation of the full potential of cultural heritage, arts and cultural and creative industries as drivers of sustainable innovation and a European sense of belonging.

To maximise the impacts of R&I under this Destination in line with EU priorities, international cooperation is encouraged whenever relevant in the proposed topics.

Expected impact:

Proposals for topics under this Destination should set out a credible pathway to contributing to the following expected impact of the Horizon Europe Strategic Plan:

• The full potential of cultural heritage, arts and cultural and creative industries and sectors as drivers of both sustainable innovation and a European sense of belonging is realised through a continuous engagement with society, citizens and economic sectors.

[1] Council conclusions of 21 May 2014 on cultural heritage as a strategic resource for a sustainable Europe (2014/C 183/08) https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52014XG0614(08)

[2] CETS 199 - Council of Europe Framework Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society (coe.int)

[3] See further for instance https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/research-area/social-sciences-and-humanities/cultural-heritage-and-cultural-and-creative-industries-ccis/cultural-heritage-cloud_en

Expected Outcome:

Projects should contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• The cultural and creative sectors and industries (CCSI) have access to a dedicated European virtual AI support platform. This hub will facilitate collaboration among a strong and open network of CCSI networks, professionals, researchers, AI tech companies, creative startups, ethical AI experts, rights management infrastructures, other industries with a shared interest in the field of AI for culture and creativity and a focus on research and innovation.
• The AI4Creatives Support Platform provides easy access to shared services, expertise, capacity building, training, and tools needed to design, develop and adopt AI solutions tailored to cultural and creative processes and needs, enhancing innovation and competitiveness.
• Filling a gap, the platform enables the development and sharing of AI applications that adhere to EU values, principles and regulations, implementing transparency, ethical standards, promoting cultural diversity, addressing biases, and ensuring equitable access to culture and creativity.

Scope:

This topic addresses the pressing need to coordinate, support, disseminate and capitalise on relevant outcomes from Horizon Europe Cluster 2-funded projects aimed to equip CCSI to leverage the digital transformation, from other relevant Horizon Europe projects, and from initiatives exploring AI in relation to CCSI under other EU programmes, such as the AI Continent Action Plan, (including AI Factories, GenAI4EU, Apply AI and the envisaged AI strategy for cultural and creative sectors and industries), AI Innovation package, and others. The aim is maximising their impact and driving innovation and competitiveness.

AI offers significant opportunities for CCSI, but challenges persist, including skill gaps, limited interaction with technology partners, structural weaknesses of CCSI, mostly small and micro enterprises with weak bargaining power against big tech providers, and limited resources to train dedicated AI models. Other challenges relate to AI ethics, transparency and intellectual property rights, including copyright. By transcending siloed approaches and establishing synergies, CCSI can take advantage of economies of scale, harness AI's potential and drive innovation. The goal is establishing a permanent, networked reference point for CCSI through a virtual support platform that builds capacity and facilitates networking and collaboration among CCSI, stakeholders, researchers, technology developers, AI ethicists, and other industries and startups, with the overall aim to enable artists, cultural professionals, creative companies and cultural organisations to engage with AI, including dealing with biases and risks. The Support Platform is expected to enable the CCSI to access and utilize available custom-made tools, quality data, resources, knowledge, training, and AI applications aligned with their specific needs and with EU principles and regulations, thus easing the adoption of appropriate innovative ethical solutions and approaches tailored to the CCSI. Among the possible functions of the Support Platform should be:

• Disseminate or develop frameworks, standards, best practices, and toolkits serving as strategic guidance for integrating ethical AI into CCSI value chains.
• Facilitate cross-sector collaboration, synergies, and partnerships between CCSI professionals, AI tech companies, and startups, liaising with initiatives like the European Collaborative Cloud for Cultural Heritage (ECCCH), AI Factories, research infrastructures on cultural heritage and digital humanities, European Digital Innovation Hubs, ALT EDIC and LLMs4EU, Common European Data Space for Cultural heritage and other data spaces, and other EU initiatives in this area.
• Build and develop a solid copyright infrastructure to support the use and licensing of copyright-protected content in the context of AI.
• Suggest education and training frameworks and provide training to foster effective AI use in CCSI. Encourage CCSI and SMEs to engage with available federated data sources, digital infrastructures, computational resources, other available platforms to develop their own AI-powered products and services.
• Develop a roadmap for emerging challenges in AI and other emerging technologies related to culture and creativity.
• Engage in policy dialogues with policymakers, industry leaders, and stakeholders to emphasize culture's contribution to quality, ethical, and fair AI developments.

The platform is expected to develop and operate based on a robust sustainability and business model, ensuring long-term viability beyond the initial project phase. The business model should align with the platform’s objectives, ensuring it remains accessible to diverse organisations in terms of size and resources and that funding is not dominated by special interest groups.

The project should liaise with the EIT KIC Culture and Creativity to establish synergies, exchange information, and enhance mutual outcomes and impact. It should build on Horizon Europe funded projects in the area of AI and CCSI, particularly those funded under topics HORIZON-CL2-2025-01-HERITAGE-04: Leveraging artificial intelligence for creativity-driven innovation, HORIZON-CL2-2026-01-HERITAGE-03: AI integration in CCSI work practice: catalysing innovation and competitiveness, HORIZON-CL2-2026-01-HERITAGE-04: Towards a fair and transparent market for cultural and creative content in the era of generative AI, and establish synergies with relevant projects, and initiatives supported by other relevant EU programmes, such as Digital Europe, Creative Europe and their successors. The project should conduct a pilot of the virtual platform to ensure alignment with CCSI needs, assessing technical and operational feasibility to ensure sustainability over time. The virtual Support Platform should be fully operational by the project's conclusion.