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In an era where digital technology is profoundly reshaping our lives and the ways in which we produce, share, and acquire knowledge and information, cultural heritage is not left untouched. On the contrary, it emerges as a privileged field of digital transformation, participation, and innovation.
The European Union has set ambitious goals for the digital transformation of public administration, education, and culture by 2030, recognizing culture as a key pillar of sustainable development and the main driver of digital democratic transition. Within this framework, the HeritACT project (Heritage Activation through Communities and Technologies), funded by Horizon Europe, puts into practice the concept of participatory digital innovation in culture.
HeritACT focuses on the reuse, enhancement, and protection of cultural heritage through the activation of local communities, using various interactive digital tools. From participatory design to sustainability assessment and fundraising, the project provides a comprehensive toolkit that promotes collectivity, creativity, and evidence-based decision-making.
According to the official EU document "State of the Digital Decade 2025" (13/06/2025), digitization in culture is recognized as a critical area for enhancing social cohesion, innovation, and participation. The active involvement of citizens in co-creating culture and cultural spaces is now a goal, not just a best practice. At the same time, Recommendation 2021/C 193/06 on "Common Digital Storage for Cultural Heritage" promotes data connectivity, access to digitized content, and the use of advanced tools, such as Artificial Intelligence and Europeana.
HeritACT integrates these directions by offering a set of open-source, free tools tailored to the needs of local communities. In this case, digitization is not a technological end in itself, but a means to strengthen the relationship between citizens and cultural heritage and to promote cultural diversity.
Within the framework of Europe's Digital Decade, cultural heritage is recognized not only as a transition pillar but also as a strategic sector for enhancing digital sovereignty, innovation, and cultural democracy. The European Commission proposes the full activation of public cultural data, the strengthening of Europeana as a unified digital platform for European heritage data storage, and the empowerment of citizens' skills in digital cultural participation. The focus shifts from simple documentation of monuments and archives to the creation of experiential, participatory, and interactive experiences through technologies such as augmented reality, serious gaming, and geospatial tools.
The HeritACT project fully integrates this new European vision for cultural heritage, leveraging cutting-edge technologies to create digital experiences that activate collective memory and enhance citizen participation. Through 3D documentation of objects, virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR), and the use of geospatial storytelling, HeritACT transforms local artifacts and personal stories into accessible cultural content. The project places a strong emphasis on cultural co-creation, inviting residents, stakeholders, and communities to actively contribute to the shaping of exhibitions and narratives, capturing the industrial heritage of Eleusis in experiential and interactive terms. In this way, cultural documentation becomes not just a process of recording, but a means of empowering local identity in the digital environment of Europe.
According to Council Recommendation 2011/711/EU, EU Member States are called to accelerate the digitization of their cultural heritage and ensure open access to related content, especially for educational, research, and creative reuse purposes. The emphasis on data interoperability and sustainable, long-term storage raises new technical support, governance, and quality assurance needs. This strategy fully aligns with the principles of the New European Bauhaus, enhancing the value of cultural heritage as a common good, accessible and active in the public space—not as a museum relic of the past, but as a field for the future of participatory and sustainable Europe.
Following the above recommendation, within the framework of the HeritACT project, a 3D digital documentation of objects connected to the history and industrial heritage of Eleusis is being carried out. The 3D documentation and distribution of digitized objects represent an innovative tool for preserving, accessing, and reinterpreting cultural memory. Through a process that respects the authentic material and its emotional value for local communities, accurate digital replicas are created and integrated into a virtual exhibition open to all, contributing to education, documentation, and cultural democracy. This approach responds to the EU’s new policies for the protection of cultural heritage (EU Regulation 2019/880), highlighting the importance of legality, transparency, and responsible digital distribution of cultural goods.
At the heart of HeritACT is the belief that every document, every personal item can contribute to the digital reconstruction of a city’s collective identity, which bears the indelible traces of industrialization, environmental challenges, historical memory, and change. In this way, every item becomes a bridge between the past and the present, highlighting the significance of collective memory through the tools of technology and cultural democracy.
The future of cultural heritage is participatory, interactive, and digital, and the city of Eleusis offers an exceptionally fertile ground.
📎 For more information and access to the project's digital tools: www.heritact.eu.