Practitioner Partner for HERITAGE-03 & HERITAGE-04 (AI in the Cultural & Creative Industries)

Kindling works at the intersection of research and real-world impact. We bring practitioner expertise from translating thousands of research projects and ventures into impact — including creating and running the world's first SSH/SHAPE accelerator, the ARC Accelerator. We're available to join HERITAGE-03 or HERITAGE-04 consortia as a practitioner partner.

This listing covers two related topics under the Innovative Research on European Cultural Heritage and Cultural and Creative Industries destination:

• HORIZON-CL2-2026-01-HERITAGE-03 — AI integration in CCSI work practice: catalysing innovation and competitiveness (Innovation Action)

• HORIZON-CL2-2026-01-HERITAGE-04 — Towards a fair and transparent market for cultural and creative content in the era of generative AI

We're open to ideation, scoping or consortium-completion conversations on either.

What we'd contribute

Both topics share a structural challenge: they need consortia that can move beyond research findings into pilots, business models and adoption — at credible scale and with defensible commercial logic. Most academic consortia struggle on the second half of that. Kindling's day-to-day work is exactly the second half. Working as a partner, we would expect to:

• Bring practitioner evidence on AI adoption in the creative and cultural sectors drawn from a portfolio of 200+ active SSH/SHAPE ventures, with a meaningful share working in or alongside CCSI domains. The data covers what enables and what blocks AI integration in creative practice — particularly around revenue models, organisational adaptation, and the practical realities of small CCSI organisations adopting new tools.

• Lead or co-lead pilot design and delivery drawing on the ARC Accelerator methodology — cohort selection, milestone-based progression, market-readiness preparation, and matchmaking between creative organisations and technology partners. HERITAGE-03 explicitly invites pilots leveraging AI for new revenue streams and sustainable business models; we have the operational track record to design and run them.

• Connect to leading CCSI institutions and live creative-tech ecosystems through ARC's portfolio and our wider work — including working relationships with the University of the Arts London, the Royal College of Music, and a range of UK higher education and AHRC-funded cultural institutions. ARC's venture portfolio includes ventures working at the intersection of AI, creative industries and ethical technology, alongside the cross-sector relationships built through reSHAPE, Europe's flagship SSH/SHAPE valorisation event.

• Bring comparative European evidence through the SHAPE Impact Kollektiv (impactkollektiv.com) — active partnerships with Görgen & Köller (Germany) and the University of Leiden (Netherlands), longstanding collaboration with Mark Mann OÜ (Estonia), and reach into Belgium, Norway, Sweden, Ireland and Denmark via Kollektiv programmes. The Kollektiv has supported 500+ SSH/SHAPE projects across multiple national contexts.

• Translate findings into policy and practice through established channels with UKRI (AHRC, ESRC, Research England, Innovate UK), the British Academy and CGIAR, and through methodology refined across 110+ universities and research organisations.

We'd welcome conversations with consortium leads at any stage of formation — whether you're sketching the project or filling out a near-complete partnership. We're available for bilateral meetings throughout 1–2 June and can schedule earlier discussions where useful. Coordinator-credible conversations are also possible where the topic and fit are right.

About Kindling Ventures

Founded by knowledge transfer professionals from the Universities of Oxford and Bristol to build the dedicated infrastructure SSH/SHAPE research needs. We help research projects of any kind — commercial, social, mission-driven — become sustainable, through ventures, services, partnerships, policy uptake or hybrid models.

The ARC Accelerator supports 1,000+ researchers and 200+ active ventures (including a strong social ventures cohort), with 70% female founders, across 110+ universities and research organisations in the UK and Europe.

Kindling is a founding partner of the SHAPE Impact Kollektiv, a European collective with active partnerships in Germany and the Netherlands that has supported 500+ SSH/SHAPE projects with engagement across 13 countries. We have worked with UKRI, the British Academy and CGIAR.