The Cultural Heritage Cloud
The Cultural Heritage Cloud or European Collaborative Cloud for Cultural Heritage (ECCCH) is a European Union initiative to create a shared digital infrastructure that connects cultural heritage institutions and professionals across the EU. It will provide specific digital collaboration tools for the sector while removing barriers for smaller and more remote institutions.
The Cultural Heritage Cloud aims to add a digital dimension to cultural heritage preservation, conservation, restoration, and enhancement by providing cutting-edge technology for artefact digitisation and artwork research. The goal is to assist cultural heritage institutions and research organisations of all sizes, and both professionals and non-professionals, in managing their digital objects more effectively. The Cultural Heritage Cloud will facilitate this through enhanced visibility, interconnectivity, and access to scientific resources, training, and advanced digital tools. These tools will help them navigate the challenges posed by the digital transition in the cultural heritage sector.
Through Horizon Europe, the Commission has allocated a significant budget (around €110 million) to fund innovative projects that contribute to enrich the Cultural Heritage Cloud by developing tools and services to digitise, preserve and valorise Europe’s cultural heritage. Visit the European Commission page to learn more or download the official flyer (412kb).
The ECCCH ecosystem brings together a wide range of interconnected projects and initiatives contributing to the development of the Cultural Heritage Cloud. At the centre of the ecosystem is ECHOES, which is responsible for building the foundations and core infrastructure of the Cloud. Alongside ECHOES, a growing portfolio of EU-funded “sister projects” develops innovative services, tools, methodologies and use cases that expand the technological and scientific capabilities of the ecosystem. In addition, several smaller-scale projects are funded through cascading grants launched by ECHOES and by some of the sister projects themselves, supporting experimentation, community engagement, data provision and the development of new applications and solutions.
Below you can find the 13 sister projects currently funded by the European Commission, focusing on innovative tools, services and applications for cultural heritage. A further 8 projects dedicated to innovative use cases are currently under grant agreement preparation. For information about the various cascading grants and the projects funded under each call, please visit the ECHOES Grants page for projects funded by ECHOES and the Sister Projects Grants page for projects funded by the sister projects.
