Press Release #5
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PRESS RELEASE | October 2026
The REEVALUATE Project Explores Responsible AI, Cultural Heritage Rights and Creative Reuse
EU-funded project develops blockchain-based rights management and AI-assisted context validation tools to support more transparent and responsible reuse of European cultural heritage.
Project developments covered: August–September 2026
As artificial intelligence opens new possibilities for creating and transforming digital content, museums and cultural heritage institutions face an important challenge: how can their collections be reused creatively while preserving information about their origins, historical context and intellectual property rights?
The EU-funded REEVALUATE project is addressing this challenge through digital technologies designed to support the traceability, licensing and responsible creative reuse of cultural heritage assets.
By combining distributed ledger technology, smart contracts and AI-assisted context validation, the project is developing approaches that help heritage institutions and creative professionals manage digital materials more transparently.
Figure 1: REEVALUATE Marketplace showing an archaeological artefact with licensing information, usage restrictions and cultural heritage metadata
Tracking provenance and managing digital rights
One of REEVALUATE’s technological developments is its Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) and Intellectual Property Rights Management Enabler, which uses blockchain technology to support the management of digitized cultural heritage assets.
Built on Hyperledger Fabric, the system uses a permissioned blockchain network to record information about digital assets, their provenance and associated rights.
Through non-fungible tokens (NFTs), digital heritage assets can be linked to structured records containing metadata and rights-related information. Smart contracts support operations involving licensing, access permissions and asset management.
The technology is designed to connect with the REEVALUATE Marketplace, enabling rights-related information and licensing operations to become part of wider heritage management and creative reuse workflows.
This approach aims to give cultural heritage institutions greater transparency over how digital assets are registered and managed, while helping creative professionals understand the conditions associated with their potential reuse.
Importantly, blockchain records provide a mechanism for documenting rights information; they do not independently establish legal copyright ownership or replace the need for appropriate permissions.
Using AI to support context validation
Alongside digital rights management, REEVALUATE is developing a Context Validation Enabler to help assess whether digital content remains consistent with relevant contextual requirements.
The tool uses artificial intelligence to analyze multimedia materials, including combinations of text, images, audio and video.
Its purpose is to assist in identifying potential contextual inconsistencies or issues that may require further review before content is reused or published.
This is particularly relevant when historical objects, images or recordings are incorporated into new creative productions, where changes in presentation may affect how their cultural meaning is understood.
The Context Validation Enabler supports review processes, but does not replace professional judgment. Automated results require appropriate interpretation, particularly where historical meaning, cultural sensitivity or legal rights are concerned.
Supporting responsible cultural heritage innovation
REEVALUATE’s work highlights that successful creative reuse requires more than access to digitized collections.
Museums and creative professionals also need clear information about an asset’s origins, historical significance and conditions of use.
By connecting rights management, contextual information and AI-assisted validation with its wider digital platform, REEVALUATE is exploring how these requirements can be addressed within more coordinated workflows.
The technologies are being developed and tested in the context of the project’s three cultural heritage pilots, covering fashion and gaming, Olympic heritage and music, and archaeological heritage in Aquileia, Italy.
Together, these activities contribute to a wider objective: enabling new creative applications of European cultural heritage while maintaining attention to provenance, transparency, human oversight and responsible reuse.
About REEVALUATE
REEVALUATE is a Horizon Europe project developing a collaborative framework for the digitization, contextualization, management and responsible creative reuse of cultural heritage assets. The project brings together cultural heritage institutions, research organizations, technology providers and creative-sector stakeholders to develop and test innovative digital tools across three European pilots.
Project website: https://reevaluate.eu/
Project Coordinator
Dr. Anastasios Drosou (CERTH): drosou@iti.gr
Technical & Innovation Manager
Dr. Anastasia Dimou (KU Leuven): anastasia.dimou@kuleuven.be
Funded by the European Union 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 granting authority. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
