Towards a fair and transparent market for cultural and creative content in the era of generative AI

The EU funding opportunity HORIZON-CL2, titled "Towards a fair and transparent market for cultural and creative content in the era of generative AI," is a Horizon Research and Innovation Action under the Horizon Europe Programme, focusing on the cultural and creative sectors (CCSI) and the socio-economic impacts of generative AI. Eligible applicants for this grant include universities, research institutions, enterprises (both SMEs and large companies), cultural organizations, non-profits, and public bodies from EU member states and associated countries. Collaboration is encouraged, necessitating a consortium of multiple partners for project submissions. The funding type is classified as a lump sum grant, simplifying financial processes compared to traditional models. The total indicative budget for this topic is €12 million, with individual grants ranging from €3 million to €4 million, supporting approximately three projects. The call aims to address multiple interconnected sectors including culture, creative industries, and AI. It focuses on key areas such as copyright, revenue models, audience engagement, and the implications of generative AI on creativity. Expected project outcomes include in-depth analyses of AI's socio-economic effects, the development of standards for content management, adaptive policy recommendations, and frameworks for sustainable creative business models. The application process is a single-stage submission with a deadline set for September 23, 2026, following an opening date of May 12, 2026. Successful applicants will be informed of results by February 2027 with project initiation anticipated thereafter. Challenges to be tackled include the need for transparency in AI-generated content, addressing copyright issues, and creating tools for rights management. Proposals should also explore new business models and the preservation of AI-generated creative outputs. Overall, this funding opportunity seeks collaboration among diverse stakeholders to develop innovative solutions that ensure fairness, transparency, and support for creators within the rapidly evolving landscape of AI in cultural and creative sectors, aligning with EU policy priorities.

The EU Funding opportunity HORIZON-CL2, titled "Towards a fair and transparent market for cultural and creative content in the era of generative AI," is a HORIZON Research and Innovation Action (HORIZON-RIA) under the Horizon Europe Programme, specifically the Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Society 2026 call (HORIZON-CL2-2026-01). It aims to address the complex socio-economic impacts of generative AI on the cultural and creative sectors (CCSI) and society, focusing on copyright, revenue models, employment, and audience engagement. The goal is to develop solutions that ensure transparency, trust, and fairness in the market for cultural and creative content in the age of AI.

The expected outcomes of this funding opportunity are multifaceted and aim to provide a comprehensive understanding and solutions for the challenges and opportunities presented by generative AI in the CCSI. These outcomes include:

1. An in-depth analysis of the socio-economic dimensions and impacts of generative AI on the cultural and creative sectors and related societal implications. This analysis should pay particular attention to the rights and remuneration of creators, the diversity of cultural expression, audience perception, consumption patterns, market dynamics, value chains, royalty allocation, and the effectiveness of copyright infrastructure.

2. The development of scenarios, value chains, standards, and robust, agile solutions to ensure transparency and trust in the generative AI supply chain, aiming for a fair and transparent market for cultural and creative content. This includes:

* Systems for content provenance detection of AI-generated and manipulated creative content.

* Tools and infrastructure that reinforce rights management, creators’ consent, control, and fair compensation for the use of their works in AI training and generation.

* Measures supporting the findability and discoverability of trustworthy cultural and creative content.

* Mechanisms for the long-term preservation and stewardship of AI-generated creative works.

3. Adaptive policy frameworks, recommendations, and solutions that embed cultural and ethical considerations in AI development for/with CCSI. These should ensure a fair and ethical market for cultural and creative content, products, and services. Concrete solutions to address identified challenges and ensure equitable and sustainable creative economies, including agile mechanisms to ensure equitable value distribution, are proposed.

4. A systemic innovation framework for sustainable CCSI is developed and validated. It enables agile experimentation, design, and testing of future-proof business models that support compliance with ethical standards, legal requirements, and resource-efficient practices adaptable to market and technological changes.

The scope of this funding opportunity encompasses the multifaceted impact of generative AI on the CCSI and society. It acknowledges the new possibilities offered by AI while also addressing concerns related to copyright, revenue models, employment patterns, and audience engagement. Understanding how AI is changing the way arts and culture are understood, created, practiced, and learnt is considered crucial.

The opportunity recognizes that generative AI can produce outputs that compete with human-created content and facilitate the manipulation of creative works, potentially infringing copyright or misleading users. Therefore, increasing the transparency of AI-generated or manipulated content is seen as essential to distinguish between human-created and machine-generated content and to inform new practices for content dissemination and consumption.

The challenges related to the availability of quality data for AI applications and the accuracy and reliability of cultural content are also highlighted. The development of Generative AI technologies requires access to vast amounts of content, which is often still protected by copyright. One of the key challenges is the difficulty in identifying copyrighted works, rightsholders, and information on how their works may be used.

The purpose of the insights gained from this funding opportunity is to inform novel practices for managing AI-generated content in cultural and creative fields, including the preservation of valuable outputs, such as artworks created by using AI, and to inform the establishment of adequate policy and legal frameworks and infrastructures.

Proposals submitted under this funding opportunity should primarily address the following dimensions:

1. Investigate and identify emerging trends, including through scenario analysis, and estimate the economic and social implications and impact of AI-generated outputs on the creative content market and related services, and on different actors and sectors, with a special focus on creators’ rights, earnings, allocation of royalties, as well as on diversity, inclusion, consumption and user perception of cultural products and services.

2. Examine and propose policy and legal frameworks to ensure a sustainable and innovative creative sector in the age of AI.

3. Propose standards and robust solutions to map the generative-AI supply chain, identify, trace and find trusted content, and ensure authenticity; tools for strengthening consent, control, rights management and compensation for the use of artistic and creative data in AI; suggest other measures to ensure a fair and transparent market for cultural and creative content, including solutions to increase the discoverability of trustworthy cultural and creative content, including copyright protected content that could be used for the AI training.

4. Investigate new, efficient ways to redefine value creation and transformed business models. This includes looking at uncovering opportunities that support human creation, and increase profitability, while providing frameworks for the distribution of AI-generated and/or assisted creative content, and measures for long term preservation of valuable works created with the use of AI.

5. Systemic and agile innovation:propose a validated framework to experiment, design, prototype and test new business models that can adapt to a rapidly evolving market, are resource efficient, and comply with ethical and regulatory frameworks.

By integrating these findings and insights, the risks associated with generative AI can be mitigated, and new positive prospects can be developed. The insights gained are expected to contribute to the EU’s global leadership in creativity and innovation.

Proposals should consider relevant policy initiatives, such as the AI Continent Action Plan and the envisaged AI dedicated strategy for the cultural and creative sectors, and build upon existing research and innovation outcomes. Proposals selected under this call should collaborate and, if relevant, build upon the research developed by projects retained under call HORIZON-CL2-2025-01-HERITAGE-04.

The general conditions for this funding opportunity include:

1. Admissibility Conditions:The proposal page limit and layout are described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes and in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System. The page limit for Part B of the Research and Innovation (RIA) application using a lump sum is 50 pages. A detailed budget table, using the template available in the Submission System, is mandatory.

2. Eligible Countries:As described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes. Specific provisions for non-EU/non-Associated Countries are detailed in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide.

3. Other Eligible Conditions:Subject to restrictions for the protection of European communication networks, as described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes.

4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion:As described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes.

5. Evaluation and award:

* Award criteria, scoring, and thresholds:As described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes.

* Submission and evaluation processes:As described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual.

* Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement:As described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes.

6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants:Eligible costs will take the form of a lump sum as defined in the Decision of 7 July 2021. The granting authority may object to a transfer of ownership or exclusive licensing of results up to 4 years after the end of the action, as set out in Annex 5. Additional information is available in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes.

Specific conditions for this topic are described in the specific topic of the Work Programme.

The application and evaluation forms, as well as the model grant agreement (MGA), are available in the Submission System. The standard application form for HE RIA and IA will be used, and evaluation form templates will be adapted as necessary. Guidance is provided in the HE Programme Guide. The Lump Sum MGA will be used, and call-specific instructions and a detailed budget table (HE LS) are available. Guidance on lump sums is also provided.

Additional documents include:

* HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 1. General Introduction

* HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 5. Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Society

* HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 15. General Annexes

* HE Programme Guide

* HE Framework Programme 2021/695

* HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764

* EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509

* Decision authorising the use of lump sum contributions under the Horizon Europe Programme

* Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment

* EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement

* Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual

* Funding & Tenders Portal Terms and Conditions

* Funding & Tenders Portal Privacy Statement

The budget overview for the HORIZON-CL2-2026-01 call includes various topics related to Democracy, Heritage, and Transformation. The HORIZON-CL2 topic has a budget of €12,000,000. The opening date for the single-stage submission is planned for 12 May 2026, and the deadline is 23 September 2026. The indicative number of grants for this topic is 3, with contributions ranging from 3,000,000 to €4,000,000.

Partner search announcements can be viewed and edited by LEARs, Account Administrators, or self-registrants after logging into the portal. The submission system is planned to open on the date stated in the topic header.

For support, applicants are encouraged to read the provisions carefully, consult the Online Manual and Horizon Europe Programme Guide, check the Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ, and contact the Research Enquiry Service, National Contact Points (NCPs), Enterprise Europe Network, or the IT Helpdesk. The European IPR Helpdesk and CEN-CENELEC/ETSI Research Helpdesks are also available for specific queries.

In summary, this Horizon Europe funding opportunity seeks to address the challenges and harness the opportunities presented by generative AI in the cultural and creative sectors. It calls for research and innovation actions that will contribute to a fair, transparent, and sustainable market for cultural and creative content in the age of AI, while also ensuring the protection of creators’ rights and the preservation of cultural diversity. The funding is provided as a lump sum, and the application process involves a single-stage submission with a deadline of 23 September 2026. Successful projects are expected to collaborate with other relevant initiatives and contribute to the EU’s global leadership in creativity and innovation.

This opportunity is about understanding and shaping the future of the cultural and creative sectors in the face of rapidly advancing AI technologies. It's about finding ways to ensure that AI enhances, rather than undermines, human creativity, cultural diversity, and the economic sustainability of these sectors. Imagine it as a call to action for researchers, policymakers, and industry stakeholders to come together and develop the tools, policies, and business models needed to navigate this new landscape and create a vibrant and equitable future for culture and creativity in Europe.

Eligible Applicant Types:The eligible applicant types are not explicitly stated, but based on the type of action (HORIZON-RIA Research and Innovation Actions and HORIZON-IA Innovation Actions and HORIZON-CSA Coordination and Support Actions), eligible applicants could include universities, research institutes, SMEs, large enterprises, and other organizations capable of conducting research and innovation activities in the relevant fields. The call is open to entities from EU member states, associated countries and potentially certain non-EU countries as specified in Annex B of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes and the Horizon Europe Programme Guide.

Funding Type:The primary financial mechanism is a grant, specifically a HORIZON Lump Sum Grant.

Consortium Requirement:The opportunity appears to require a consortium, as it is a Research and Innovation Action (RIA) or Innovation Action (IA) or Coordination and Support Action (CSA) under Horizon Europe, which typically involves multiple partners collaborating on a project. Partner Search announcements are explicitly mentioned.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility):The geographic eligibility includes EU member states and associated countries. Specific provisions may exist for non-EU/non-associated countries, as detailed in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide.

Target Sector:The program targets the cultural and creative sectors (CCSI), with a focus on the impact of generative AI on these sectors. Specific areas include copyright, revenue models, employment patterns, audience engagement, rights and remuneration of creators, diversity of cultural expression, audience perception, consumption patterns, market dynamics, value chains, royalty allocation, and the effectiveness of copyright infrastructure. The program also targets artificial intelligence, specifically generative AI.

Mentioned Countries:No specific countries are mentioned, but the geographic scope includes EU member states and associated countries. There may be specific provisions for non-EU/non-associated countries.

Project Stage:The project stage is variable, encompassing research, development, and innovation. Research and Innovation Actions (RIA) focus on research and development, while Innovation Actions (IA) focus on demonstration and validation of innovative solutions. Coordination and Support Actions (CSA) focus on networking, coordination, and dissemination activities.

Funding Amount:The funding amounts vary depending on the specific topic within the call, ranging from approximately €3,000,000 to €6,000,000. For example, HORIZON-CL2 has a contribution of 3,000,000 to €4,000,000, while HORIZON-CL2-2026-01-HERITAGE-02 has a contribution of 5,000,000 to €6,000,000.

Application Type:The application type is an open call with a single-stage submission process.

Nature of Support:Beneficiaries will receive money in the form of a lump sum grant.

Application Stages:The application process is a single-stage process.

Success Rates:The success rates are not explicitly mentioned, but the indicative number of grants for each topic is provided, allowing for an estimation of the competition level. For example, HORIZON-CL2 indicates 3 grants will be awarded, while HORIZON-CL2-2026-01-HERITAGE-07 indicates only 1 grant.

Co-funding Requirement:The co-funding requirement is not explicitly mentioned, but Horizon Europe grants typically fund a significant portion of the project costs, implying that co-funding may not be mandatory but could strengthen a proposal.

Summary:This Horizon Europe call, part of the Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Society 2026 work program, focuses on addressing the challenges and opportunities presented by generative AI in the cultural and creative sectors. The call aims to fund research and innovation projects that analyze the socio-economic impacts of AI, propose policy and legal frameworks, develop standards for content provenance and rights management, and investigate new business models for sustainable creative economies. The call is structured around several topics related to democracy, heritage, and transformations within society. Funding is provided as lump sum grants, and projects are expected to contribute to the EU's global leadership in creativity and innovation. Applicants are encouraged to form consortia and collaborate with other relevant projects. The call is a single-stage submission process with a deadline of September 23, 2026.