A training programme for the six Createch Venture Club start-ups

Createch Venture Club is a free incubation and acceleration programme for the cultural and creative industries, providing start-ups, professionals and SMEs in Emilia-Romagna’s cultural sector with technological resources, strategic mentorship and access to an exclusive network.

The project is the outcome of a collaboration between experts in innovation and technology in the cultural and creative sector: Creative Hub Bologna, Mister Smart Innovation, and CNR – Area Territoriale di Ricerca di Bologna ISMN di Bologna. It was approved under the “Call for the Development of Incubators and Accelerators” within the RP-ERDF Emilia-Romagna 2021–2027, Action 1.1.6 “Support for the Development of Incubators/Accelerators”.

The Createch Venture Club programme offers two pathways: Incubation, reserved for freelancers and sole traders, and Acceleration, designed for six established start-ups.

The second pathway is divided into several phases, covering acceleration services and business model development, followed by consolidation and evaluation. It then progresses to the maturation phase, which includes support for enhancing marketing and communication skills, and concludes with a focus on internationalisation.

In this context, BAM! was recognised as an organisation capable of imparting business modelling, marketing, and communication skills specifically tailored to the cultural sector.

Accordingly, we developed a support programme for the six beneficiary start-ups, comprising two training modules of eight hours each, focusing respectively on business modelling and on marketing and communication.
The training activities took place in May 2025 in a blended format, combining classroom sessions with online meetings, and consistently incorporating theoretical input, practical exercises and the presentation of both Italian and international case studies.

To ensure the programme was as tailored as possible to the participating companies, we provided the six start-ups with a self-assessment questionnaire. This enabled us to analyse their current capabilities in areas within our expertise and to identify their specific needs.

Photo credits: CC Attribution WOCinTech (WOCinTech Chat is a US-based project that archives photos of BIPOC women working in tech, captured in everyday professional settings. All images are freely downloadable and available under a Creative Commons Attribution licence).

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