ARCHE - Alliance for Research on Cultural Heritage in Europe - launched
The ARCHE project (Alliance for Research on Cultural Heritage in Europe) has officially started. Gathering 24 partners from 18 European countries for three years, it will develop a pan European framework for a holistic approach to Cultural Heritage Research and Innovation, by creating a spearheading coordination network of researchers, innovators, heritage professionals, institutional bodies and citizens.
The Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (RCE) is one of the Dutch partners of ARCHE, together with the Dutch Research Council (NWO). The RCE will contribute to several tasks within the project, amongst which signalling large challenges for heritage research, creating a strategic research agenda, and formulating criteria for ARCHE activities in order to reach the desired impact.
The Fondation des Sciences du Patrimoine is project coordinator and ARCHE has a budget of three millions euros funded by the European Commission. With these funds, the European heritage partners will co-design Research and Innovation strategies and roadmaps that lead to initiatives requiring multidisciplinary approaches.
ARCHE focuses on the following challenges
- Pursue and emphasise the development of cultural heritage as an interdisciplinary field of research, by fostering pollination between disciplines that are sometimes focused mostly inwards, such as environmental science and green technologies, and Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH).
- Facilitate exchange, interactions and transfers between cultural heritage research and different economic sectors (cultural and creative Industries, tourism, regional growth and rural development), so that cultural heritage has a more crucial role in nurturing innovation.
- Developing and making broadly available new knowledge, skills, and strategies for sustainable preservation, conservation, use and management of cultural heritage.
Specific objectives of ARCHE
- To draw a comprehensive picture of the European Cultural Heritage Research & Innovation landscape and propose joint action responding to needs by efficient use of complementary funding sources.
- To develop the ARCHE Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) for Research & Innovation in Europe based on a holistic approach for cultural heritage.
- To drive the SRIA towards innovation and concrete actions.
- To set-up a purpose-built governance structure promoting involvement and commitment of partner institutions and ensuring efficient coordination.
- To achieve the critical mass in terms of participating stakeholders and resources needed for the long- term sustainable operation of ARCHE.
More information about ARCHE will be published on the website Heritage Research Hub, and updates about RCE’s part in this project will be published on this website.