The ECHOES (European Cloud for Heritage OpEn Science) consortium has been selected to manage the creation of the Collaborative European Cloud for Cultural Heritage. The ECHOES project will promote the development of the Digital Commons through a digital environment that enables the collective enrichment and analysis of cultural heritage objects, facts or phenomena. One of the partners of the initiative is the Poznan Supercomputing and Networking Center.
In June 2022, the European Commission announced its commitment to support the creation of a shared cloud for cultural heritage. The initiative aims to strengthen links between different cultural heritage institutions and professionals in the sector, increase knowledge, collect documentation, protect and promote both tangible and intangible cultural heritage across Europe. The initiative will create a digital ecosystem that will connect and harmonise practices around digital objects.
Funded under Horizon Europe, the cultural heritage cloud has been allocated a budget of €110 million until 2025, representing the largest investment in Europe in a cultural heritage initiative and more broadly in the Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS). Two calls for proposals have been launched in 2023, with further calls planned for 2024 and 2025.
The European Cloud for Heritage Open Science (ECHOES) project, led by the CNRS under the scientific leadership of Xavier Rodier, Director of the MSH Val de Loire, won the Horizon Europa 2023 competition “A European Collaborative Cloud for Cultural Heritage” (HORIZON-CL2-2023-HERITAGE-ECCCH-01-01). ECHOES has been awarded €25 million for five years of work (2024-2029). The project aims to create a collaboration cloud, a European reference platform for professionals working on tangible and intangible cultural heritage.
For the ECHOES project, the CNRS, together with the CNR (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Italy) and the FSP (Fondation des Sciences du Patrimoine), has formed a consortium of 51 European partners. These partners include research organisations, networks representing heritage communities (museums, libraries, archives, restaurants, etc.), universities and private sector operators. As a pilot project, ECHOES aims to create an infrastructure and legal entity for the cloud in collaboration with and for cultural heritage communities. ECHOES promotes a holistic approach to digital transformation, encouraging the co-creation of knowledge.
The ECHOES project will promote the development of Digital Commons through the digital environment, enabling the collective enrichment and analysis of cultural heritage objects, facts or phenomena. Actors – both human and artificial intelligence (AI) – will be able to develop their interpretations and thus contribute to the construction of knowledge. With its transparent management approach and application of open science principles, ECHOES will also integrate other European and national cloud projects.
Contact point for the project: echoes.contact@services.cnrs.fr
Follow the ECHOES project website: https://www.echoes-eccch.eu/
