ELICIA
Empowering Leadership in Creative Innovation and AI-driven Entrepreneurs
ELICIA empowers European higher education institutions to lead in AI-driven creativity and entrepreneurship by embedding interdisciplinary training, Creative Innovation Labs, and startup incubation into institutional frameworks. By fostering industry collaboration and inclusive innovation ecosystems, the project addresses digital transformation challenges and drives sustainable growth across the creative and cultural sectors.
The ELICIA project will turn European higher education organisations to creativity-focused innovation and AI based enterprise hub for the across the continent. Fulfil the objectives targeted in Strand A of EIT HEI Initiative, therefore, ELICIA is creating institutional capacity and cross disciplinary collaboration for HEIs to take the lead in developing entrepreneurial skills that will capitalise on the benefits of Artificial Intelligence and creative technologies. The project supports a group of HEIs and industry partners with experience working together towards their common goal of creating an ecosystem that enables entrepreneurial education, knowledge transfer, and sustainable development.
The backbone of the entire ELICIA approach represents the principle of a two-cluster approach. Thus, an Innovative Technologies Cluster focuses on acquiring foundational skills in AI to provide the HEIs with the main digital competencies. In return, the Development Cluster centres on acquiring creativity-driven skills and game development, keeping the prime aim of developing adaptable entrepreneurs for the future. These will be achieved through targeted workshops, mentoring programs, and hands-on training modules that will equip participants with the necessary sets of skills to leverage AI and creativity for new ventures and innovative solutions. The main activities that will be engaged within ELICIA include the following:
Capacity Building Programs: This is inclusive of training modules, interdisciplinary projects, and challenge-based incubation for creativity and fluency in AI.
Mentorship and Incubation: Structured mentorship from industry leaders and incubation support, guiding participants right from ideation through to market-ready solutions.
Partners on this project
Istanbul Kültür University (Lead Partner)
Anthology Ventures AD
Burgas Free University
Ilia State University
Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology LUTq
Startup Centrum
Universitatea Nationala de Arta Teatrala si Cinematografica “I.L. Caragiale”
Acceler8