The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) has launched the 9th Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC) dedicated to the Cultural and Creative Sectors and Industries (CCSI). Founded in 2023 in Cologne, with 25 partners from 19 nations, EIT Culture & Creativity (EIT CC) aims to address the global challenges faced by the CCSI, which employs 6.2% of the European Union (EU) workforce but struggles with skills gaps, slow innovation, and limited scalability and growth. EIT CC will be co-funded by the EIT potentially for up to 15 years, with an initial grant of €25M to support Education, Innovation, and Business Creation. Its 2024–2025 Business Plan (BP24–25) marks the beginning of a journey towards financial independence. This is underpinned by a growing community of members, some 350 by 2025, who will invest to innovate in their own sectors. The partnership aims to create a sustainable ecosystem that promotes competitiveness, resilience, and long-term economic growth. Through collaboration, it seeks to strengthen industry practices, support innovation, and encourage environmentally responsible approaches, all the while enhancing the overall economic landscape for the future in a partnership with purpose. By 2025, EIT CC will train 1,500 students, support more than 90 companies (Start-ups, Scale-ups and SMEs), incubate more than 10 Start-ups through our incubation and acceleration programmes. It will also implement some 25 innovation projects across various cultural and creative fields: Architecture, Audio-visual Media, Fashion, Cultural Heritage, and Games. EIT CC will also spearhead efforts to enhance the resilience of the CCSI by developing modular Resilience Plans for organisations across Europe. By 2025, 60 pioneering stakeholders will be involved in the creation and adoption of these plans. Ultimately, EIT CC aims to become a holding company by 2027, investing in 50 of Europe’s top cultural and creative businesses. The focus is not just on creating a network but on fundamentally transforming the CCSI through facilitating long-term partnerships, moving beyond publicly funded projects and turning innovation into impact. The goal is to secure a competitive edge for the European CCSI on the global stage, while fostering ethical practices, the preservation of cultural heritage, architectural sustainability, and the competitiveness of the European games industry, and addressing challenges such as fast fashion and media ethics.