Two Programmes, One Goal: Knowledge for Creative Businesses in Pécs

The Kreatív Ipari Klaszter is serving the region's creative entrepreneurs with two mutually reinforcing programmes at once.

It can sometimes seem as though creative — in inverted commas, "craftsman" — work is not particularly well valued by the market on its own. A good idea, a strong portfolio, a loyal client base — and yet the question remains: what will become of the business in ten years' time?

The central question is this: how does a small creative business stay competitive in an environment where technology, funding questions, and market expectations are changing faster than the studio can outgrow its first office?

This year, at the Klaszter, we are trying to respond to this question with two parallel initiatives. One is a training programme grown out of the work of a European consortium, centred on artificial intelligence. The other is a complex competence development programme launched with domestic funding, supported by the Ministry of National Economy, covering everything from resilience to digitalisation to financing — all that a creative SME might need in day-to-day operations.

AI Training for Creative Professionals: Clarity Beyond the Noise

The CREMEL 2.0 programme is a project running under the Erasmus+ framework, bringing together multiple European partners, within which a comprehensive, Hungarian-language training handbook has now been completed for creative professionals. The AI integration Handbook and the accompanying training programme are not about automating everything — including what is not worth automating — nor are they about fearing machine intelligence. The central philosophy of our training is to understand how AI works, where it can help us, and, of course, what it cannot do in our place.

One of the key concepts in the handbook is peripheral integration: in most creative organisations, AI does not become useful at the centre of the creative work itself, but at its edges — in administration, in repetitive tasks, in time-consuming background work. If we take these off our hands, more time remains for what truly creates human value.

The research conducted within the framework of the project also provides the foundation of the handbook. Among other findings, the research revealed that 54% of professionals approach AI as moderate users: they use it readily for specific tasks, but have not yet let it into their creative decision-making. This is a considered, values-based approach that reflects not backwardness, but appropriate self-awareness.

The training material is available, and also forms the basis of the training series the Klaszter launched in March. If you are curious about how to integrate AI into your own work without losing human control, this could be an excellent starting point for you.

Creative Industry Competence Programme

Our other programme is built on a different logic, but targets the same problem: the vulnerability of creative businesses. The Kreatív Ipari Kompetencia Program (ÜKFP), supported by the Ministry of National Economy, rests on three core pillars and runs from February this year through to January 2027.

The first is the development of resilience and fundamental business capabilities. Not abstract management theories, but concrete tools: business model development, cash-flow planning, market research, sales strategies. The knowledge without which a creative business can easily wither in its first serious crisis.

The second pillar is AI and digitalisation, where the fresh knowledge acquired in recent years becomes direct source material. We start from general digital maturity and guide participants towards tools and approaches genuinely applicable in the creative industries: content generation, client relations, online sales.

The third is financing. Grant opportunities, EU and domestic funding sources, alternative financing models — those doors that are often standing open, but it is not always obvious to everyone exactly where to knock.

The programme is open to both start-up businesses and operating SMEs — with incubation, training, and direct advisory support. It draws on the Klaszter's 20-year regional network and the experience of more than 50 completed projects, in collaboration with the Pécs-Baranya Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Steadfastly in Service of Creative Businesses

In our ever faster-changing world, problems are not isolated phenomena. A photographer in Pécs, a small graphic design studio, or a cultural organisation today struggles simultaneously with understanding what AI is good for, not knowing how to approach an EU grant application, and not standing on solid ground with the business model on which growth could be built.

The name of the Kreatív Ipari Klaszter is no coincidence in containing the concepts of competence and innovation: our goal is to fulfil the role of a comprehensive knowledge bridge. This is the role we are now trying genuinely to fulfil through our parallel programmes: bringing creative businesses together and equipping them with the practical knowledge for which there is growing demand.

If you are reading this as a creative entrepreneur, we warmly welcome you to our cluster and our programmes. We communicate regularly about the details on our Facebook and LinkedIn pages, but it is also worth subscribing to our newsletter.