: SHIFT Project
New SHIFT publications
HERITΛGE is proud to be part of the SHIFT project, collaborating with 12 partners, including heritage organizations, universities, research centers, and private businesses. Together, we aim to make cultural heritage more accessible, inclusive, and engaging by leveraging cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and haptics.
This year, the project has delivered two important publications, both available for free download:
Inclusion in Museums: A Collection of Best Practices
Produced by the Balkan Museum Network (BMN), this e-book showcases best practices for fostering inclusion in museums across the Balkans. The publication features insights from heritage experts on implementing inclusive strategies, highlighting successes, identifying challenges, and outlining steps for future progress. An audiobook version will be available soon.
Promoting Inclusive Innovation in Digital Technologies for Heritage Preservation
SHIFT, along with four sister projects funded under Horizon Europe’s 2021 call for proposals (Cluster 2: Culture, Creativity & Inclusive Society), has released a collaborative policy brief. This document provides actionable recommendations for policymakers to address expertise gaps, enhance digital education, and promote inclusion within the cultural heritage sector. Download the policy brief to learn more.
SHIFT is funded under the European Union’s Horizon Europe program, Cluster 2: “Culture, Creativity & Inclusive Society,” which focuses on innovative research in European cultural heritage and the cultural and creative industries.
Stay tuned for more SHIFT updates and developments in 2025!
SHIFT Consortium Advances Cultural Heritage Accessibility: Highlights from Athens Event
The HERITΛGE team was very happy to host our colleagues from the SHIFT project Consortium in Athens last week to discuss progress made and the next steps the consortium will take in its work to make cultural heritage more accessible, inclusive and appealing for all. The consortiun also presented the project which is funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe program, to a select group of heritage professionals, policy makers, and stakeholders on Friday May 24th, during an event at the Athenian Museum.
HERITΛGE’s director, Dr. Evangelos Kyriakidis, opened the event, underlining the significance of the project: “We are very proud of the Organization’s participation in the SHIFT program and happy to be able to present here in Athens the first samples of the partner’s work with the aim of making cultural heritage more accessible, inclusive and attractive,” Kyriakidis said.
Razvan Purcarea from project coordinator SIMAVI briefly presented the project with help from representatives from Queen Mary University of London, the Technical University of Munich, the Foundation for Research and Technology (FORTH), and the technology company audEERING, all members of the SHIFT consortium. During the event, Dr. Angelos Giokas from the Athena Research Center gave a brief presentation of PREMIERE, a project for accessibility and inclusion in the performing arts, which is also funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe program.
Learn more about SHIFT: https://shift-europe.eu/
SHIFT Project update: Metadata and a Text-to-Speech tool
The SHIFT project has produced two new videos for heritage professionals. They are part of the work being done by the 13 partners (including heritage) to make cultural heritage more accessible, inclusive, and appealing using the latest advances in technology.
The first video explains some of the work SHIFT has been doing to produce a Text-to-Speech tool for cultural heritage. The tool uses affective speech synthesis to link emotions with acoustics. In one example, a video provided by the Balkan Museum Network was not only translated and voiced over using AI, but the voice was processed to carry affect, that is, to convey relevant emotions.
Watch the video below and subscribe to the project’s YouTube page:
Webinar Video: Webinar: Metadata in museum collections
The second video the team released is a recording of the recent webinar on Metadata in Museum Collections, organized by the Balkan Museum Network in February. Webinar instructor Fetja, an information and communication expert researching and practicing in the fields of data science, information sciences, knowledge management, and communications, explored the importance of metadata and descriptions in managing museum collections and artifacts as well as strategies for effective digital cataloging of collections and sub-collections.
Watch a recording of this SHIFT webinar that was designed for museum professionals, curators, and anyone interested in the intersection of culture, technology, and information management.
About SHIFT: SHIFT is funded by the European Commission’s Horizon Europe program. It brings together 13 leading research and industrial organizations and SMEs with a common vision: to strengthen the impact of cultural heritage assets. SHIFT will produce an array of tools taking advantage of the latest developments in fields such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Haptics, and Auditory Synthesizers to increase the appeal of historical artifacts, improving their accessibility and usability for everyone through better content representation, enriched user experiences, inclusive design, training, and more engaging business models. Find out more here: https://shift-europe.eu/
SHIFT Project Webinar: accessible & inclusive cultural heritage content
Join us for a webinar to celebrate this year’s European Heritage Days organized by SHIFT, an international project funded by the European Commission’s Horizon Europe Program to make cultural heritage more inclusive and accessible through technology.
SHIFT’s (MetamorphoSis of cultural Heritage Into augmented hypermedia assets For enhanced accessibiliTy and inclusion)online event will explore the innovative tools being developed by the SHIFT Consortium to improve the accessibility, inclusivity, and appeal of cultural heritage content. It will be held on September 18th, 11 AM CET.
SHIFT is one of a cluster of six projects funded by the European Commission’s Horizon Europe Program under Cluster 2 Culture, Creativity, and Inclusive Society: Preserving and enhancing cultural heritage with advanced digital technologies. SHIFT supports the adoption of digital transformation strategies and the uptake of tools within the creative and cultural industries (CCI).
The webinar is addressed to cultural heritage professionals, researchers, and the public. To attend, participants can register by filling out this form.
SHIFT PROJECT: The SHIFT Consortium’s 13 partners are leveraging advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) to improve cultural heritage access for European citizens experiencing sensory impairment. They aim to enrich the experience of interacting with cultural assets through visual, auditory, and sensory modalities, e.g., using haptics. SHIFT is also developing tools and methodologies to enable contemporary description of cultural assets through language evolution models. HERITΛGE is proud to be a part of the SHIFT Consortium. To find out more about SHIFT, please watch this introductory video.
European Cultural Heritage Days: Every September, the signatory States to the European Cultural Convention take part in the European Heritage Days – a joint action of the Council of Europe and the European Commission. The action’s aims are, among others, to raise the awareness of European citizens to the richness and cultural diversity of Europe and invite responses to the social, political and economic challenges it faces.
More about SHIFT: https://shift-europe.eu/