Glossary

As an innovator, creative or founder whose ideas are gaining traction, you suddenly are expected to move fluently between multiple worlds: the creative field, the entrepreneurial landscape and the spheres of investors and public as well as private funding. Each one of these comes with their own languages and codes. On top of that, each organization, like the EIT Culture & Creativity, comes with its own vocabulary, too.

To help you navigate some of it more easily, we have compiled a glossary of words we know are helpful.

Accelerator: An accelerator supports companies that already exist but need to grow, and assists them in reaching a defined goal.
CCSI (Cultural and Creative Sectors and Industries): The broad umbrella term used for everything from fashion, design, architecture, and gaming to cultural heritage and audio-visual media. Basically: the creative economy.
CLC (Co-Location Centre): EIT Culture & Creativity's offices across Europe (Vienna, Barcelona, Helsinki, Bologna, Amsterdam, Košice). They are named after the regions they are mainly taking care of. The Vienna hub, South East & Alps, is the one hosting the Creative Catalyst Austria.
Cohort: A group of participants who go through a programme together at the same time. In Creative Catalyst, your cohort is the other creatives, founders, and organisations joining the same lab or sprint cycle as you — your fellow participants.
Collaboration / Collaborators: A step deeper than cooperation: people or organisations actively working together on something specific, contributing their different skills and perspectives towards a shared output. Collaborators are involved in the work itself, not just aligned around it. In Creative Catalyst, this might mean developing a project concept together during a lab, co-creating a prototype, or jointly developing a funding proposal.
Consortia (Singular: Consortium): A group of independent actors (individuals, companies, universities, research institutes) that formally team up and commit to work on a project together, usually to apply for EU funding. Each member has defined roles, responsibilities, and budgets, and the whole group is bound by a formal agreement. Most Horizon Europe and EIT grants require a consortium rather than a single applicant. Think of it as a project collaboration with a legal and financial agreement behind it.
Cooperation: The lightest form of working with others: agreeing to support each other, share information, or coordinate activities without necessarily working on the same project. Two organisations might cooperate by referring contacts, attending the same events, or aligning their goals. No formal agreement or shared deliverable is required.
Copyright: The automatic legal protection that applies to original creative works: writing, music, visual art, design, software, and more. Unlike patents or trademarks, you don't need to register copyright; it exists the moment you create something. It gives you control over how your work is used, reproduced, or distributed. Particularly central to the creative industries. It is a form of IP (Intellectual Property).
Creative Catalyst Austria: The Creative Catalyst Austria is a programme funded by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) through the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs, Energy and Tourism, co-financed by the Vienna Business Agency, the Styrian Economic Development Agency (SFG) and Innovation Salzburg, and implemented by the Regional Hub EIT Culture & Creativity South East & Alps. The programme regularly hosts events, workshops and other formats that support specifically Austrian businesses in reaching the European scale and navigating the international funding and investment landscapes.
Digital Transition: The shift towards using digital tools, platforms, and technologies across all areas of work and society. For creatives, this means things like adopting AI, working with extended reality (XR), digitalising workflows, or developing digital products and services.
Due Diligence: The process of thoroughly checking a company's financials, legal standing, and business model. Typically done before investment or funding. It is in your best interest to have your financials structured in a way that makes it easy for you to provide them for such checks in a matter of a few days.
EIT (European Institute of Innovation & Technology): The EU body that funds and oversees knowledge and innovation communities (KICs) across Europe. Think of it as the parent funder behind Creative Catalyst.
EIT Culture & Creativity (EIT CC): The European institutional partnership specifically for the cultural and creative sectors: the organisation whose Co-Location Centers, like South East and Alps, host and run programmes such as the Creative Catalyst, among many other activities.
EIT Culture & Creativity South East and Alps (EIT CC SEA): This is our local Co-Location Center, or Regional Hub, in Vienna. You can understand this as our office + people in Vienna from which we run EIT Culture & Creativity programmes and host programmes such as the Creative Catalyst.
Green Transition: The shift towards more environmentally sustainable ways of working and producing. For the creative industries, this includes using circular materials, reducing waste, fostering repairability, and designing products and services with a lower environmental footprint.
Horizon Europe: The EU's main research and innovation funding programme (2021–2027). A simple way to think about it: EIT Culture & Creativity calls are a stepping stone towards Horizon Europe, Creative Europe, or other major EU programmes — both in terms of funding readiness and in building the track record and partnerships that make a Horizon application credible.
Incubation / Acceleration: Incubation supports very early-stage ventures in turning their idea into first product(s) and founding their business.
Intrapreneur: Someone who thinks and acts like an entrepreneur — developing new ideas, taking initiative, and driving innovation — but does so within an existing organisation rather than founding their own. Relevant for creatives working inside companies or institutions who want to push change from within.
IP (Intellectual Property): The legal rights over creative or innovative work: patents, copyrights, trademarks. In EU innovation language, managing and monetising IP is a recurring theme, especially for creative industries where copyright is central to the business models.
KIC (Knowledge and Innovation Community): A large EU-backed partnership network combining businesses, universities, research organisations, and public bodies to tackle specific challenges. EIT Culture & Creativity is one such KIC.
Knowledge Triangle: The idea that education, research, and business/innovation work best when they are deeply connected rather than operating in silos. EIT Culture & Creativity is built on this principle: bringing universities, research organisations, and companies together so knowledge flows in all directions and actually leads to real-world impact.
New European Bauhaus (NEB): An EU initiative connecting sustainability, aesthetics, and inclusion — essentially asking: Can we make the green transition beautiful and culturally rooted? The events associated with the Creative Catalyst's Materials Lab are closely aligned with this initiative's values and are a perfect stepping stone towards the NEB Calls.
Patent: A registered legal right that protects a new invention or technical solution, giving the owner the exclusive right to use, produce, or sell it for a set period (usually 20 years). Patents are more common in technology and product innovation than in the creative industries, where copyright tends to be more relevant. It is a form of IP (Intellectual Property).
Peers: In a programme context, peers are your fellow participants: people at a similar stage or in a similar field as you. Peer learning and peer-to-peer (P2P) formats in Creative Catalyst are based on the idea that you can learn as much from each other as from external experts.
RIS (Regional Innovation Scheme): An EU mechanism to make sure innovation support reaches less developed or underrepresented regions, not just the big innovation hotspots.
Resilience: The ability of a company, organisation, or sector to adapt, recover, and continue operating when faced with disruption — whether that's economic shifts, technological change, climate impacts, or market volatility. In the EIT Culture & Creativity context, building resilience means helping creative businesses become more stable and future-proof.
Scale-up: Any business or company that has proven its business model and is now growing. Distinct from a startup, which is still finding its footing.
Scaling (Multi-Dimensional): Growing a business, product, or service beyond its original scope. In our context, this can take a multidimensional form: not only reaching more/new customers, entering new markets, or increasing revenue, but also doing things more green, more social, more resilient — in the best case without proportionally increasing costs or complexity. For creative startups, scaling often means moving from a local or national audience to a European or global one.
Social Transition: The shift towards a more inclusive, equitable, and cohesive society. In the context of EIT Culture & Creativity and Creative Catalyst, this means ensuring that innovation benefits diverse communities, that cultural identity and heritage are protected and expanded, that digital ethics are respected, and that no group is left behind as industries change.
Trade Secret: Valuable business information that a company keeps confidential to maintain a competitive advantage — think a unique process, formula, strategy, or data set. Unlike patents, trade secrets are not registered; they are protected simply by keeping them secret. If the information leaks, the protection is lost. It is a form of IP (Intellectual Property).
Trademark: A registered symbol, name, logo, or phrase that identifies and distinguishes a brand or product. It gives the owner the exclusive right to use that mark commercially. For creative businesses, trademarking your brand name or visual identity protects it from being copied or misused by others. It is a form of IP (Intellectual Property).
Triple Transition (Digital, Green, Social): The three big shifts the EU wants all industries to navigate: becoming more digital, more environmentally sustainable, and more socially inclusive. EIT Culture & Creativity programmes, such as Creative Catalyst and its sub-programmes, are designed with all three in mind.