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Recent research shows increasing efforts to unfold the potential of Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs) for regions in order to pursue new sources of innovation, competitive edge and to manifest sustainable and inclusive growth paths driven by creativity. Due to its strong commitments to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations, on the global level, the Baltic Sea Region (BSR) has become a role model in sustainable development. Yet, individual BSR countries face challenges in the implementation of those goals. In this light, by building on the intermediate results (2017–2020) of two EU Interreg projects—Creative Ports and CTCC—this research reveals CCIs’ potential for sustainable development avenues. The investigation is based on case study methodology underpinned by empirical data gathered from participating Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) and topical experts met during the projects’ implementation and study visits. The present multi-project applied research reduces the research-to-practice gap pertaining to the so far underestimated role of CCIs for supporting traditional SMEs in the implementation of their sustainable ideas. Once engaged into cross-sectoral collaboration with traditional SMEs, CCIs become important brokers—sustainable innovation drivers and enablers within regional ecosystems through contribution to environmentally responsible, socially equitable and economically feasible solutions for the business they work with. Thus, on the one hand, CCIs support SMEs in their transition towards more sustainable managerial performance. On the other hand, CCIs overcome disconnection and increase their recognition through new collaboration opportunities, thus providing them with new capitalization avenues on the regional and international level.

Renewable energy technologies play a crucial role in solving global energy and environmental issues, and the pace of the energy transition directly depends on improving their efficiency. Presently, the development and implementation of renewable energy systems are ensured mainly through state funding, the possibilities of which are limited. The potential of attracting private investments depends directly on their impact on companies’ profitability indicators, and the uncertainty regarding the return on investments is one of the main barriers affecting investors’ decision-making. Based on a vector autoregressive model for analysing the stationary time series, the paper explores the impact of long-term investments and research and development costs in renewable energy technologies on the financial performance of ten of the largest companies operating in this field. The study’s results showed that investments and spending on research and development positively affect such companies’ profitability indicators as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation, earnings before interest and tax, net income, and return on investment. The obtained results can be used to substantiate the economic effectiveness of investments in developing and improving renewable energy technologies when forming the companies’ financial policies to support them.