Innovative Tools & Business Models

• Improve the competitiveness of the European audiovisual industry and seize the benefits of the innovative developments in technology and business models;
• Improve the adaptation of the European audiovisual industry to the opportunities offered by Artificial Intelligence and the development of virtual worlds (also called Metaverse(s));
• Improve the greening process of the European audiovisual industry;
• Improve the production and circulation of European audiovisual works in the digital era;
• Increase the number and diversity of European works available online and increase their visibility in order to allow them to reach more audiences.

• In order to be eligible, the applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities) must:
  − be legal entities (public or private bodies)
  − be established in one of the eligible countries, i.e.:
  − Creative Europe Participating Countries:
  − EU Member States (including overseas countries and territories
  (OCTs))
  − non-EU countries:
  − listed EEA countries and countries associated to the Creative
• Europe Programme or countries which are in ongoing negotiations for an association agreement and where the
  agreement enters into force before grant signature (list of participating countries).
• Be established in one of the countries participating fully in the MEDIA strand of the Creative Europe Programme and be owned directly or indirectly, wholly or by majority participation, by nationals from such countries. When a company is publicly listed, the location of the stock exchange will in principle determine its nationality.

The projects can include in particular:

• Subtitling or accessibility/discoverability/recommendation tools to be widely used across borders and across platforms in order to improve the visibility, the availability and the audience potential of European audiovisual works;
• Business tools improving the efficiency and the transparency of the audiovisual markets: automated rights management system, technology for data gathering and analysis.
• Business models seeking to optimise the synergies and complementarities between the distribution platforms (festivals, cinemas, VOD…).
• Business tools exploring new modes of production, financing, distribution or promotion enabled or enhanced by new technology such as AI, big data, blockchain, Virtual worlds, NFT, etc.
• When considering the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools for the preparation of the proposal, it is imperative to exercise caution and careful consideration. The AI-generated content should be thoroughly reviewed and validated by the applicants to ensure its appropriateness and accuracy, as well as its compliance with intellectual property regulations. Applicants are fully responsible for the content of the proposal (even those parts produced by the AI tool) and must be transparent in disclosing which AI tools were used and how they were utilised.
• Innovative tools and business models improving the greening process of the audiovisual industry.
• The action does not cover the development of hardware e.g. cameras, virtual headsets.
• Applications should present adequate strategies to ensure more sustainable and more environmentally-respectful industry and to ensure gender balance, inclusion, diversity, and representativeness.
• Transparency plays a key role in the action. Therefore, applications should contain plans for the disclosure of the inputs and results of the action, including among others communicating the results to public authorities, Member States and the audiovisual industry.
• Special emphasis will also be placed on attracting private investment and on own investment. Project’s ability to apply for a sound and reasonable level of EU public funding below the 80% authorised will be assessed.

• Project budget (maximum grant amount): No limit.
• The grant will be a budget-based (actual costs, with unit cost and flat-rate elements). This means that it will reimburse ONLY certain types of costs (eligible costs) and costs that were actually incurred for your project (NOT the budgeted costs).
• Grants may NOT produce a profit (i.e. surplus of revenues + EU grant over costs). For-profit organisations must declare their revenues and, if there is a profit, it will be deduct it from the final grant amount.
• The costs will be reimbursed at the funding rate fixed in the Grant Agreement (80%).
• Download Innovative Tools and Business Models Call 2026 Call Document for details.