Match & Fund 2025: Cultural Heritage & Innovation Matchmaking
Join the online matchmaking event to explore EU funding opportunities for cultural heritage, creativity, and innovation – 3 June 2025
As part of our European project “MetaHeritage”, we co-organise the Match & Fund: Cultural Heritage & Innovation Matchmaking, a pan-European online event taking place on 3 June 2025, from 09:30 to 18:00 CET. This full-day initiative is designed to foster cross-sector collaboration, connect key stakeholders, and unlock European funding for projects in cultural heritage, creativity, and digital innovation.
Organised in cooperation with a wide array of pan-European network partners, the event is tailored to support the European Commission’s Horizon Europe Cluster 2 activities and beyond. Participants will gain a comprehensive overview of current EU funding instruments and connect with future collaborators from across the continent.
“This matchmaking event is designed to provide a cross-programme view of European funding and thus enable the identification of the most a
ppropriate programmes and partners for project ideas.” (Sander Münster, Secretary-Elect of the TMO & Junior Professor at the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena)
Agenda
The morning session (09:30–12:30 CET) will feature expert presentations on key European funding programmes. The agenda includes an overview of Horizon Europe Cluster 2 calls for cultural heritage as well as the Digital Europe Programme, a regional perspective on Interregional Innovation Investments (I3), and dedicated slots for Creative Europe, the EIT Culture & Creativity calls, and Horizon Euro
pe partnerships such as Resilient Cultural Heritage and Virtual Worlds. Participants will also hear about TMO Synergy Grants and other relevant EU initiatives.
Starting from 13:00 CET, the event will transition into individual matchmaking sessions via the B2Match platform, allowing participants to connect directly with potential project partners from across sectors and countries.
A Collaborative European Network
The event is hosted and organised by the Time Machine Organisation (TMO), in cooperation with the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena and further amplified by a strong coalition of dissemination partners, including the European Enterprise Network, the European Cluster Alliance, EIT Co-Location Center and EIT Culture and Creativity, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, and CRUSOE – the Conference of Rectors of Western European Universities. This collective effort ensures broad reach and relevance across Europe’s research, innovation, and cultural landscape.
Who Should Attend?
Match & Fund 2025 is open to researchers, innovators, policymakers, or cultural professionals, and stakeholders from public and private sectors interested in EU collaboration and funding opportunities. Whether you’re shaping new ideas or looking for partners to strengthen an existing concept, this event offers the tools and connections needed to bring projects to life.
Register Now
Explore the programme and secure your spot: Home | Digitisation, Cultural Heritage and Smart Tourism – Online Infoday & Matchmaking
About our project “MetaHeritage”
The MetaHeritage project explores innovative, “out-of-the-box” approaches to interregional development by leveraging virtual and smart heritage tourism. At its core, the initiative uses cultural heritage routes and the Metaverse—incorporating immersive technologies such as 3D, virtual reality, and augmented reality—as platforms to foster interregional networking, enhance the capacity of regional innovation ecosystems (particularly in less developed regions), and attract coordinated investment. By integrating these digital and cultural models, the project seeks to establish innovative and sustainable business models within the tourism and heritage sectors. Special emphasis is placed on capacity building and active engagement with quadruple helix stakeholders, including regional clusters, heritage companies, destination management organisations, digital service providers, research institutions, civil society, and public administrations. These strategies are designed to be adaptable to the specific needs and strengths of each region, ensuring tailored, high-impact interventions. Ultimately, MetaHeritage demonstrates how the convergence of cultural and corporate heritage, immersive digital technologies, interregional innovation, and smart specialisation can drive sustainable economic growth through heritage business innovation.