EIT Culture & Creativity launches fund to address skills gap across Europe's AV media sector

With skill shortages across the industry, the fund looks to promote alternative approaches to traditional training, with short, targeted courses that can be designed and deployed quickly, reaching working professionals where the skills gap is most acute.

Anette Schaefer, CEO, EIT Culture & Creativity, said: “Closing the skills gap in AI, intellectual property and digital storytelling is not just a workforce issue; it is a question of whether Europe's creative industries can remain competitive, sovereign and culturally distinctive in the decade ahead.”

What the call funds

With a total budget of €600,000 and up to €75,000 available per project, the call supports the design and delivery of short, practical CPD courses across three areas where the need is most acute:

Intellectual Property, Rights & Content Exploitation: Advanced rights management, licensing and value creation in platform-driven and AI-mediated environments.

Artificial Intelligence in Audiovisual Production & Workflows: Applied skills for integrating AI into content development, production, post-production and distribution in responsible and competitive ways.

Storytelling for Digital, Interactive and Cross-Media Environments: Advanced narrative approaches for immersive, interactive and platform-based formats.

The call is open to education providers, industry bodies, research institutions and media organisations with strong sector roots and the capacity to design and deploy high-quality training quickly, whether applying independently or as part of a small consortium. Up to eight projects will be funded.

The deadline to apply is 14 September 2026, 10:00 CEST. Full details are available here.

A dedicated information session will take place on 30 July, offering prospective applicants the opportunity to learn more and ask questions directly to the team. To register for the session, click here.