U.Porto is part of a consortium that will promote creative industries in Europe

13 July, 2022

The University of Porto is one of the leading partners of a consortium, selected as the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), to create its first knowledge and innovation community for the areas of cultural and creative industries.

Implemented by Innovation by Creative Economy (ICE), the initiative will start operations next year and will have the mission to boost the competitiveness of the cultural and creative industries sectors, as well as strengthen their role as a driver of prosperity for Europe.

To this end, it will have funding of over 300 million euros, under the Horizon Europe program, to be applied over the next few years.

In addition to the University of Porto – the only Portuguese higher education institution partner in the EIT Culture and Creativity – the ICE consortium, coordinated by Fraunhofer (Germany), brings together the expertise of over 50 universities, research institutions, companies, investors, and relevant associations in the area, and from 20 countries. Together they intend to “unlock the latent value of the cultural and creative sectors and industries, to become a pivot for the green, digital and social transformation of Europe”.

According to Pedro Rodrigues, vice-rector of that educational institution, responsible for research and innovation, EIT Culture and Creativity intends to “meet the creative mass installed in Europe, around cultural issues and, namely, the creative industries”. To this end, it intends to ally its main agents, in a “set of projects that allow boosting this area of knowledge in Europe”, in areas such as training, research, support for innovation, and entrepreneurship.