Heriforge: XR in Cultural Heritage – Challenges and Possibilities

2025-06-05

Heriforge: XR in Cultural Heritage – Challenges and Possibilities

A discussion on possibilities and challenges in the field of cultural heritage in the context of extended reality – these are not only the main assumptions of the Heriforge project, but also the goal of the webinar which took place on 4 June 2025. The event was addressed to all participants of the Polish hub.

Heriforge is a project funded under the EU’s Horizon Europe program. As a part of it, three interdisciplinary hubs – in Poland, Turkey, and Cyprus – are going to be established to support the process of utilizing and implementing XR (extended reality) technologies. The project envisions creating a multi-sectoral environment that facilitates the transfer of competencies and tools to ease the adaptation of XR technologies among public institutions, businesses, academic units, and the third sector. Project activities will be carried out indirectly through conducting pilot programs and technological demonstrations, organizing workshops, and providing cascading grants for the development of XR applications.

The webinar created a presentation arena for the project’s goals and assumptions, as well as the current state and potential for adapting extended reality technology within the cultural heritage sector. There was also a discussion about the necessity of understanding environmental needs in the context of conducting pilot programs and cascading grants. The meeting provided an opportunity to summarize past results, present the findings of an analysis concerning local and European policies regarding XR in cultural heritage, finally to outline the profiles of the hubs. Key information about planned open calls was also announced.