3 June 2025 | Online
On 3 June 2025, the Time Machine Organisation successfully hosted Match & Fund: Cultural Heritage & Innovation Matchmaking, a pan-European online event dedicated to fostering cross-sector collaboration and exploring EU funding opportunities in the areas of cultural heritage, creativity, and digital innovation.
Organised in cooperation with the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena and a broad coalition of European partners, the full-day event offered participants an insightful overview of current EU funding programmes – including Horizon Europe Cluster 2, the Digital Europe Programme, Creative Europe, Interregional Innovation Investments (I3), EIT Culture & Creativity, and more.
Key Highlights & Statistics
- Over 250 registrations from across Europe and beyond
- Participants from 45 countries, representing a highly diverse international audience, including attendees from other continents
- 209 organisations took part, spanning sectors such as academia, SMEs, start-ups, NGOs, GLAM institutions (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, Museums), and other cultural and research stakeholders
- 86 matchmaking meetings were successfully scheduled through the B2Match platform
Expert Insights & EU Funding Overview
The morning session (09:30–12:30 CET) featured high-level presentations on EU funding opportunities for cultural heritage and innovation. Speakers highlighted:
- Calls under Horizon Europe Cluster 2
- Opportunities within the Digital Europe Programme
- Regional funding perspectives through I3
- Funding channels via Creative Europe, EIT Culture & Creativity, and Horizon Europe partnerships such as Resilient Cultural Heritage and Virtual Worlds
- Insights into the TMO Synergy Grants and complementary initiatives
Afternoon Matchmaking
In the afternoon (from 13:00 CET), participants engaged in targeted one-on-one meetings via the B2Match platform. These sessions helped initiate collaborations and develop concrete project ideas across disciplines and countries.
The event was made possible through the collaboration of a robust network of dissemination and institutional partners, including:
- The European Enterprise Network
- The European Cluster Alliance
- EIT Culture and Creativity
- The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research
- CRUSOE – Conference of Rectors of Western European Universities
The event welcomed researchers, innovators, policymakers, entrepreneurs, and cultural professionals from both public and private sectors, all interested in shaping the future of cultural heritage and innovation through European collaboration and funding.
Match & Fund 2025 proved to be a vital catalyst for cross-sector innovation, helping shape the next generation of collaborative European projects in cultural heritage and beyond.
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