Creativefed.eu

What comes after ?

The Strategic Dialogue does not end in Brussels.

The work now continues across the next European policy cycle — through , , Creative Skills Week 2026, and .

Save the dates:
1️⃣
7–11 September 2026
Brussels

2️⃣ European Creative Industries Summit 2026 —
10–14 November 2026
Dublin, Ireland

3️⃣ Strategic Dialogue on European Creative Economy 2027 —
8 June 2027
Brussels

The question ahead is no longer only what must change.

It is how the sector organises, acts and builds the infrastructure needed to shape Europe’s creative and digital future.

Session Highlights — Skills, practice and transformation

If Europe’s Cultural and Creative Industries are to shape the AI transition, skills policy cannot be an afterthought.

At , Cyanotypes, and Craft-It4sd showed how the sector is already moving from ambition to practice.
presented a practical framework for transformation, helping individuals, organisations, educators, networks and policymakers build actionable learning pathways.
opened the question of whether accreditation can keep pace with AI — and how micro-credentials can provide professional recognition without creating new red tape.
explored how AI can support local creative ecosystems without standardising them.

The common message:
Creative skills are not peripheral soft skills.

They are strategic capacities for navigating uncertainty, technological disruption and societal transition.

Watch the session recordings:
https://vimeo.com/showcase/12264155?fl=so&fe=fs

Session Highlights — AI, agency and creative autonomy

The AI debate at moved beyond the simple question of “friend or foe”.

The deeper question was:
Who holds the pen — the human or the machine?

Across the sessions, speakers explored AI not only as a technology of speed and efficiency, but as a question of authorship, labour, rights, creative autonomy and human agency.

, , introduced Reflective AI as a way to use AI training to reflect on creative practice.

, .culture, argued for AI as an exoskeleton rather than a prosthesis: a system that should amplify creative workers, not make them interchangeable.

MEP reminded the room that Europe cannot build AI on creative work taken without consent or compensation.

The message was clear:
AI policy for the creative economy must be about more than tools.

It must be about agency.

Watch the session recordings: https://vimeo.com/showcase/12264155?fl=so&fe=fs (Link in bio!)

HumanAgency CreativeFED CCSI

Urgent action for Europe’s Cultural and Creative Industries.

The next EU funding architecture is being shaped now.

If Cultural and Creative Industries are not structurally included in the European Competitiveness Fund and related governance frameworks, Europe risks excluding one of its most important innovation ecosystems from the strategic investment cycle of 2028–2034.

BrandBrief is a coordinated advocacy initiative by CreativeFED, Time Machine and Culture Action Europe.

It calls for:
• Creative Innovation Infrastructure as part of European digital sovereignty
• CCI inclusion in EU competitiveness and innovation funding
• Creative skills support in the AI transition
• Fair compensation and licensing frameworks for creative work used in AI systems
• CCI representation in governance bodies shaping AI and industrial policy

The demand is not protection from transformation.

It is the capacity to shape transformation.

Read and support BrandBrief:
https://brandbrief.eu/

For researchers, universities, policy experts and innovation actors:
The White Paper is now available.

Presented at in Brussels, the White Paper provides the full evidence base behind CreativeFED’s call to recognise Europe’s Cultural and Creative Industries as Critical Innovation Infrastructure.

It develops the argument across five policy domains:
• Digital sovereignty and the missing content layer
• AI already inside creative practice
• Public procurement as a strategic lever
• The funding paradox facing CCIs
• LocKICs, regional innovation and the 2028–2034 policy cycle

The White Paper also builds on the work initiated through the White Paper and carries it into the next European policy phase.

Read the White Paper:http://creative-stack.eu/doc/FIN_SDECE26_White%20Paper_20260502.pdf

For policymakers, policy advisors and sector organisations:
The CreativeFED Policy Brief is now available.

Presented at , the brief distils CreativeFED’s core argument into a concise call for recognition, reform and structural investment.

Its central message:
Europe’s Cultural and Creative Industries are not a sector in need of protection.
They are innovation infrastructure in need of recognition.

The brief sets out why CCIs must be formally recognised as Critical Innovation Infrastructure — with the funding eligibility, governance representation and policy status that designation requires.

It covers five domains:
• CreativeStack as the missing fifth layer of EuroStack
• AI already inside the studio
• Public markets as a strategic lever for CCIs
• The funding paradox facing creative sectors
• The 2028–2034 MFF and the LocKIC model

Read the Policy Brief:http://creative-stack.eu/doc/FIN_PolicyBrief_CreativeStack_SDECE26_20260503.pdf

Missed — or want to revisit the discussions?

The full recording of the livestream of the Strategic Dialogue on European Creative Economy is now available, edited and with the presentations integrated.

Across the day, speakers and participants explored how AI is reshaping creative work, what fair conditions in the AI age require, and why Europe’s Cultural and Creative Industries must be recognised as innovation infrastructure.

All session recordings will be made available in one place, so policymakers, researchers, sector leaders and creative organisations can return to the discussions and use them in their own work.

Watch the full recording or single sessions:
https://vimeo.com/showcase/12264155

⏳ Reminder: Our final Living Lab is happening soon!

Join us online on June 10 for a collaborative session focused on sustainability, creative innovation, and practical tools for the Cultural and Creative Industries.

🗓️ June 10, 2026
⏰ 09:00–12:00 CEST
📍 Online
🔗 https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScyYNGwHDWRiFmyXmsq4pVOsi4bqDKQDONsZoKa-62kmr6ueA/viewform

Together we’ll explore:
🟢 the GreenCCIrcle Academy
🟢 the GreenCCIrcle HUB
🟢 real sustainability challenges & solutions in CCIs

💚 One final opportunity to exchange ideas, test tools, and shape greener creative futures together.

Europe is establishing its digital sovereignty.

However, digital sovereignty without cultural sovereignty is incomplete.

At , CreativeFED presented CreativeStack, which is a policy argument for recognising Europe’s cultural and creative industries as creative innovation infrastructure.

Europe’s digital future is not just based on hardware, software, cloud infrastructure and AI models.

It is also built from content, narratives, meaning, cultural memory, and creative labour.

The films, music, games, design, journalism, stories and symbolic goods through which Europeans experience the digital world are not just decorations.

They are infrastructure.

Explore CreativeStack:
http://creative-stack.eu/