HORIZON-CL2-2026-01-HERITAGE-05: Creative alliances: Fostering global partnerships in cultural policies and CCI innovation

Expected Outcome: Projects should contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• Deepened understanding and comprehensive evaluation of cultural policy models, creative industry ecosystems, and strategies for promoting creative industries across world regions, identifying good practices, success stories and replicable models. Innovative practices, policy approaches, shared challenges, and opportunities for cross-regional collaboration and global development of creative industries are identified.
• International equal partnerships and collaborations are established to exchange cultural policy approaches, boost creative industries, and/or support collaborative production or co-creation, facilitating knowledge transfer and capacity building among participating actors.
• Actionable strategies are available to policymakers, businesses, and stakeholders, for cross-regional collaborations that strengthen cultural ties, leverage creative industries, culture, and the arts as central to Global Europe, and support global culture- and creativity-driven innovation and resilience.

Focus 1: Cultural and creative industries’ innovation beyond borders

Focus 2: International cultural relations for global resilienc

Projects should establish mechanisms for ongoing collaboration that leverage each region’s cultural assets and industry innovations to address global and local challenges

Proposals addressing either focus may also explore ways to address unequal access to global markets and imbalances in partnerships within the creative economy, with attention to gender and other intersectional aspects shaping opportunities and participation. Research organisations, policy think-tanks, creative industries representatives, artist organisations/artists, tech communities, and cultural organisations from Europe and partner world regions are encouraged to participate.

Proposals should involve CCSI representatives from the outset to ensure their central role. Proposals need not cover all CCSI but may focus on a specific area for in-depth analysis to develop a strong knowledge base and highlight strategic directions and routes to improvement. Proposals should explore synergies with other EU programmes supporting international cultural and creative partnerships, including the European Spaces of Culture, and may seek complementarities with projects funded under the topic HORIZON-CL2-2025-01-HERITAGE-07.