Description
FRIEND CCI Project concluded with a final event in Munich, on 16 July 2025, celebrating innovation, resilience, and cross-border cooperation in Europe's Cultural and Creative Industries (CCI).
The meeting session marked a crucial moment for the FRIEND CCI consortium, as partners convened together with relevant stakeholders and some of the cascade project beneficiaries, to sum up the project results and communicate its future continuation. The event, organized by the project partner ITALCAM - Italian-German Chamber of Commerce, focused on communicating project main achievements, making results exploitable and emphasizing the added value that FRIEND CCI Eurocluster created across European SME-led initiatives.
The FRIEND CCI Eurocluster’s journey started in 2022, when the European Commission funded the initiative under the European Union’s Single Market Programme (SMP), aiming to support the resilience of the cultural and creative industries (CCI) ecosystem by strengthening clusters and fostering sustainable interregional collaboration.
The event, hosted by project partner ITALCAM, featured contributions from Carlotta Campanini (Project Manager, Venetian Cluster), Sergio Calò (Director, Venetian Cluster), and Jacqueline Heimgärtner (Vice President, BLVKK – Bavarian Association for the Cultural and Creative Industries).Speakers shared best practices experienced during the 3 years project, noting success stories from supporting SMEs and their creative innovation across Europe. Over the course of the project, FRIEND CCI funded 22 innovative consortium projects, involving 60 SMEs and specialized service providers from various European countries. More than €1 million in non-repayable grants were allocated to support projects in areas such as digitalization, sustainability, internationalization, and creative technology.
"Through two calls launched in 2023, we received 70 proposals from 161 SMEs,” said Sergio Calò, Director of Venetian Cluster and lead coordinator of the project. “The selected projects span emerging technologies, applied creativity, and cross-sectoral innovation. The FRIEND CCI initiative proves how European cooperation can boost competitiveness and long-term resilience for creative SMEs.”
Three of the funded projects were presented at the final event as examples of innovation and cross-sector synergy:
Film Your Vision – A collaboration between Amica Film GmbH and Boulangerie Dompierre GmbH, combining filmmaking with ESG branding and creative storytelling.
Carr-E – Developed by Freiform, this mobility-design innovation explores the intersection of technology and creativity, emphasizing future-forward thinking in the creative tech space.
CUBE – Created by Alpenway Media GmbH, this project introduced an eco-friendly, remote production model. It focused on a cross-border documentary about Crespi d’Adda, a UNESCO heritage site, and its unique industrial and cultural legacy.
In addition to showcasing results, the event emphasized long-term impact and sustainability. This led to a forward-looking conversation about the continuation of the Eurocluster in the framework of the recently formed CR.EU. Metacluster: a pan-European network that consolidates clusters efforts in the CCI sector. Such a structure will serve not only to encourage innovation and competitiveness, but also to streamline exchanges among clusters, promote shared services, and amplify European influence in global creative markets.