Executive Summary

Innovation within and beyond the Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs) takes many forms, yet policy
debates often focus on a narrow understanding of creativity that fails to reflect the sector’s full contribution to Europe’s strategic priorities. This white paper presents a broader, more systemic view of how innovation is by, for, driven by, and co‑created with the CCIs. It argues that a shift in both language and policy is required to recognise and fully harness the sector’s role in strengthening competitiveness, democratic resilience, and sustainable development across the continent.

CCIs generate a substantial number of inventions, methods and technologies that later diffuse into other
sectors, from game engines and virtual production tools to advanced design methods, smart materials
and digital heritage solutions. Yet innovation policies are rarely designed with these specific dynamics in
mind. As a result, CCI‑led innovation often remains undervalued, underfunded, or poorly integrated into
broader industrial and regional development strategies.

At the same time, the CCIs face their own challenges—particularly around environmental sustainability,
digital transition and resource constraints—which require targeted innovation efforts for the sector.
Addressing these issues demands cross‑sector expertise, new business models and collaborative
experimentation, especially in areas where CCIs operate as “extreme users” whose needs can generate
wider technological and organisational breakthroughs.

Beyond their internal innovation capacity, the CCIs act as powerful drivers of innovation across the
economy. Their creative methods, prototyping practices, narrative skills and user‑centred approaches
offer essential capabilities for industries seeking to explore uncertainty, accelerate solution development and engage citizens. CCI environments such as festivals, cultural venues and creative labs provide unique real‑world testbeds for experimentation, while creative professionals play key roles in making emerging technologies meaningful, attractive and widely adopted.

This white paper also highlights the importance of open and co‑creative innovation models that bring
CCIs into early‑stage exploration of new challenges and opportunities. Such processes enable diverse
actors—policymakers, SMEs, researchers, artists and civil society—to work together across
organisational and sectoral boundaries. They foster trust, expand knowledge bases, reduce risk and
generate more inclusive and future‑oriented outcomes. Strengthening Europe’s innovation ecosystems
therefore requires greater support for intermediaries capable of facilitating this kind of collaboration.

Taken together, these perspectives demonstrate that the CCIs are not peripheral to Europe’s innovation
landscape but central to the transitions the EU seeks to achieve.To realise this potential, innovation
policies must expand their definitions, instruments and collaboration models to better reflect the
creative sector’s diversity and interconnectedness. This includes developing policy frameworks that
recognise the CCIs as strategic partners in mission‑oriented innovation, supporting open innovation
infrastructures, and establishing better tools for capturing CCI spillovers across the wider economy.

This broader, more inclusive view of innovation—one that fully recognises the value of cultural and
creative contributions—will be essential for enabling Europe to build resilient, competitive and
forward‑looking innovation ecosystems capable of addressing the challenges of today and tomorrow.