ICT and Digital Technologies. The New European Competence Centre for the Preservation and Conservation of Cultural Heritage

Europe’s cultural heritage sites are in danger, due to the increasing occurrence of disasters such as floods, earthquakes, and also because of manmade damage or the effects of climate change. In this framework, digital technology can help preserve the knowledge of threatened heritage artefacts, museums, monuments, documents and sites and make them accessible for citizens across Europe and for future generations. In this direction, the European Commission has launched a call for the creation of a “Competence Centre” aimed at preserving cultural heritage through ICT technologies, as a transnational and interdisciplinary reference point. The project 4CH - Competence Centre for the Conservation of Cultural Heritage aims to design and define the overall architecture of a European Competence Centre on Cultural Heritage, which will operate proactively for the conservation and safeguarding of heritage. The project aims to initiate the implementation of the structure, organisation and services of the Competence Centre, which will operate as an infrastructure aimed at providing cultural, scientific, technological, financial, strategic and policy expertise and advice able to exploit the most advanced ICT, 3D and digital technologies.