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This paper examines the VERTIGO–STARTS artistic residency programme (2016–2020) as a structured infrastructure of care for artists, technologists, researchers, and communities engaged in art–science–technology collaboration. Moving beyond a narrative centred solely on technological innovation or economic impact, this study argues that residencies function as relational and organisational systems that distribute care, attention, and support across interdisciplinary actors. Drawing on the programme's methodology, dissemination strategies, and participant feedback, we demonstrate how STARTS residencies embody practices of care in multiple registers: care for participants' creative and professional development; care for vulnerable bodies and publics (as evidenced in health-related residencies); care for environmental futures (in ecological-focused initiatives); care for knowledge preservation and community building (via platforms, networks, and open data); and care for inclusive, accessible technoscientific futures. We argue that this care-centred framework offers a transferable model for European research funding, arts policy, and innovation governance, one that prioritises the conditions of possibility for meaningful collaboration over metrics of commercial viability or technological disruption alone.