INFINITY: Support for the European Cultural Heritage Collaboration Cloud

2026-02-17

INFINITY: Support for the European Cultural Heritage Collaboration Cloud

Digital objects are often presented in ways that limit their full interpretation and joint exploration of collections. The solution lies in improving connectivity between collections, metadata quality, and interoperability, enabling ethical use of resources in their full context. The new INFINITY project, by integrating with the Cultural Heritage Data Space and the European Cultural Heritage Collaboration Cloud, will enable advanced data enrichment, elevate the professional value of the sector, and support innovative business models.

The INFINITY project addresses the current challenges and expectations of cultural heritage institutions (CHI), creating tools that enable deep, contextual enrichment of metadata for multimodal and digital heritage resources, improving their accessibility and interpretability. Additionally, the development and implementation of multidimensional knowledge graphs (MKG) facilitates a thorough understanding of cultural heritage digital objects (CHDO) from multiple perspectives, taking into account diverse cultural, historical, and social contexts. The deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies streamlines the ethical (re)use and management of digital cultural heritage, ensuring compliance with both legal standards and societal ethical norms. The project also creates interoperable data models that support seamless integration of INFINITY tools and methods with existing heritage infrastructures and collection management systems. CHI institutions will receive support in implementing and maximizing the benefits of INFINITY innovations through training materials, guidelines, and documentation. INFINITY will also strengthen the network of specialists, researchers, technologists, and decision-makers in the CH field through workshops, seminars, and a Third-Party Financial Support mechanism (FSTP) to promote widespread adoption and knowledge exchange.

The project’s main objectives (ALIGN, CODIFY, ENHANCE, INTEGRATE, INTERACT, ENGAGE) will be validated through six real-world use cases, focusing on demonstrating how INFINITY can semantically enrich diverse cultural heritage resources—from manuscripts, historical maps, manuscripts, audiovisual materials, and archival content to 3D archaeological data—while ensuring provenance, legal compliance, and reusable metadata that accounts for context.