European Commission
The European Commission has published a report assessing the progress made by Member States in digitising Europe’s cultural heritage. Entitled “The Future of Europe’s Past – Why Member States must do more to advance digitisation for Cultural Heritage” the report covers the first two years following the adoption of the 2021 EU Recommendation on a Common European Data Space for Cultural Heritage.
The Recommendation encourages Member States to increase their efforts, pool resources, and involve the private sector to increase online access to Europe’s diverse cultural heritage. It targets the digitisation of all types of cultural heritage, allowing the preservation and protection of heritage at risk, while also boosting the reuse of digital assets in education, sustainable tourism, and the creative and cultural sectors, among others.
The Recommendation thus emphasises the importance of making digitised cultural heritage content from libraries, archives, and museums across Europe accessible via the EU’s data space for cultural heritage and Europeana.
Progress and Challenges
Between November 2021 and November 2023, Member States made measurable progress in implementing the Recommendation. However, the Commission notes that the ambitious digitisation targets for 2025 and 2030 remain significantly out of reach.
To meet these objectives, Member States must intensify their efforts, particularly by expanding digitisation, including 3D digitisation, of cultural assets and adopting advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence and virtual reality.
National strategies, digitisation and data accessibility
Most Member States have now dedicated strategies for the digital transformation of cultural heritage, with many updating or developing new plans, funding opportunities, infrastructure, training and collaboration for the adoption of more advanced digital technologies.
With the increase of available digitised artifacts, many countries are also putting in place long-term preservation strategies and encouraging the use of open standards that improve access and reuse of digital content.
Partnerships, collaboration and the skills gap
Initiatives forging partnerships and cross-border cooperation between cultural heritage institutions and other sectors are at the core of activities such as digitisation, asset management, and online publication. However, the report recognises that digital skills continue to be an area of concern. Several Member States have set national targets to build the digital capabilities of heritage professionals, aiming to ensure staff can confidently manage and apply digital tools and technologies in their work.
Copyright, legal barriers and funding instruments
Uncertainties around copyright and reuse, licensing, and ownership pose challenges for many institutions. Recent EU legislation, the Digital Single Market Directive, is expected to clarify some of these issues, particularly for digitising works no longer in commercial circulation.
The report concludes by noting that Member States are using a variety of national and European funding instruments to support digitisation and preservation. EU programmes such as the Recovery and Resilience Facility, Cohesion Fund, Horizon Europe and the Digital Europe Programme continue to play a key role in accelerating progress across the sector. Increasingly, public funding is linked to making digital heritage widely accessible through European platforms.