Stronger Together: European Cultural Heritage Projects Connect at the REEVALUATE Final Event
Innovation in cultural heritage does not happen in isolation. At the REEVALUATE Final Event in Aquileia, Italy, on 25 September 2026, representatives of three European research and innovation projects—BCThubs, IMPULSE and RESTORY—joined the consortium to exchange experiences, present their work and explore common interests in the future of cultural heritage.
Hosted by Fondazione Aquileia, the event brought together project partners, cultural heritage professionals, researchers and external stakeholders to reflect on REEVALUATE’s achievements and their relevance to the wider European cultural heritage ecosystem.
Among the highlights of the morning program was the Synergies Inspirational Session, which gave participating initiatives an opportunity to introduce their approaches, demonstrate the diversity of European cultural heritage research and connect with the REEVALUATE community.
Figure 1: Representatives of European research and innovation initiatives joined the REEVALUATE Final Event in Aquileia.
BCThubs: Connecting technology, innovation and underwater cultural heritage
The BCThubs – Blue Culture Technology Excellence Hubs in EU Widening Member States project focuses on strengthening research and innovation capacities for underwater cultural heritage.
Its work supports the development of regional Excellence Hubs in Greece, Malta and Bulgaria, bringing together researchers, businesses, public authorities and societal stakeholders to advance the sustainable protection, management, accessibility and promotion of underwater cultural heritage.
Through its emphasis on cooperation, technology transfer and innovation ecosystems, BCThubs addresses challenges that are also relevant to REEVALUATE: how to support cultural heritage organizations with appropriate technologies, encourage collaboration across institutions and develop approaches that can remain useful beyond individual research projects.
Its participation in Aquileia offered an opportunity to connect experiences from underwater cultural heritage with those emerging from REEVALUATE’s fashion, Olympic and archaeological pilots.
Figure 2: BCThubs presenting its approach to innovation and collaboration in underwater cultural heritage.
IMPULSE: New immersive experiences for cultural heritage
The IMPULSE – Immersive Digitisation: Upcycling Cultural Heritage towards New Reviving Strategies project explores how immersive technologies can create new opportunities for experiencing and reusing digitized cultural heritage.
Bringing together researchers, artists, cultural heritage practitioners and creative-sector professionals, IMPULSE investigates how extended reality (XR), immersive storytelling and co-creation can make cultural collections more accessible and engaging.
The project also addresses important practical considerations, including metadata sharing, inclusive participation, ownership and the responsible use of digital heritage resources.
These themes connect closely with REEVALUATE’s efforts to move beyond the digitization of cultural objects toward their contextualization, collaborative management and creative reuse.
At the Final Event, IMPULSE’s participation contributed another perspective on how digital cultural heritage can support new experiences, creative practices and meaningful interactions with audiences.
Figure 3: IMPULSE sharing its work on immersive digitization and new experiences with cultural heritage.
RESTORY: Reconnecting communities with their cultural heritage
The RESTORY – Recovering Past Stories for the Future project focuses on the textual and oral heritage of small communities, exploring how historical narratives and traditions can strengthen cultural connections in the present.
Through research, community engagement and activities involving cultural professionals, RESTORY works to recover and interpret stories that may otherwise remain overlooked or disconnected from contemporary audiences.
Its approach highlights the importance of understanding cultural heritage not only through physical objects and collections, but also through the experiences, memories and narratives that give heritage its meaning.
This perspective complements REEVALUATE’s emphasis on contextualization and stakeholder participation. Digital technologies can help make heritage accessible, but preserving and communicating the stories associated with it is equally important.
RESTORY’s involvement in the Final Event broadened the exchange to include community knowledge, cultural continuity and the role of historical narratives in connecting people with the past.
Figure 4: RESTORY introducing its work on textual and oral heritage and community engagement.
Beyond the presentations: Making connections in Aquileia
The synergy activities were not limited to the formal presentations.
Throughout the Final Event, participants had opportunities to exchange ideas during the interactive sessions, informal conversations and networking moments.
These exchanges are particularly valuable for European research projects operating in related but distinct areas. Although the participating initiatives address different heritage collections, technologies and audiences, they encounter common questions concerning accessibility, sustainability, collaboration, responsible innovation and the reuse of cultural knowledge.
For REEVALUATE, welcoming other initiatives was also an opportunity to share its integrated approach to cultural heritage management and hear how comparable challenges are being addressed elsewhere.
The exchanges demonstrated the importance of building connections across research communities rather than treating individual technological developments or project results as isolated achievements.
Figure 5: Informal exchanges created opportunities for project representatives to share experiences and explore common interests.
Figure 6: Collaboration and knowledge exchange were central themes throughout the Final Event.
Building on a shared European vision
The participation of BCThubs, IMPULSE and RESTORY reflected the broader value of connecting European research and innovation initiatives working on cultural heritage.
From underwater archaeology and immersive experiences to community narratives and digital heritage management, these projects demonstrate the variety of approaches being developed to preserve, interpret and share cultural heritage.
They also highlight important areas of common interest: strengthening cooperation between institutions, supporting cultural heritage professionals, engaging audiences and ensuring that research and innovation contribute to meaningful and sustainable outcomes.
REEVALUATE warmly thanks the representatives of BCThubs, IMPULSE and RESTORY for joining the Final Event, sharing their work and contributing to the discussions in Aquileia.
The exchanges offered a fitting reminder that the future of European cultural heritage will benefit not only from new tools and technologies, but also from the connections between the people, organizations and communities putting them into practice.
REEVALUATE has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement No. 101132389.
Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
