Digital meets Culture

25-29 August, Seul (Korea)

EUreka3D-XR to be presented at CIPA 2025

To the 30th CIPA International Symposium, UNESCO Chair for Digital Cultural Heritage, Heritage Malta and Fundación Tekniker will join as a team to present EUreka3D-XR project along with Heritalise EU Project.

The theme of the 30th CIPA 2025 Symposium is “Heritage Conservation from Bits: From Digital Documentation to Data-driven Heritage Conservation,” which focuses on the increasingly important role that data will play in the conservation of cultural heritage in the age of artificial intelligence and explores the trend towards data-driven heritage conservation through the creation and analysis of heritage data, and application of new technologies in the context of artifacts, archaeological sites, historic buildings, landscapes, museums, and more.

Through three presentations, a groundbreaking framework that goes beyond traditional 3D documentation, will be introduced. The Memory Twin concept integrates:

Tangible heritage – accurate digital replicas of monuments, objects, and sites.
Intangible heritage – stories, traditions, and cultural practices.
Contextual data – metadata, paradata, and usage history woven into the digital record.

Additionally, during the presentation a special focus will be reserved to quality certification during 3D data acquisition, paradata, metadata, transparency, credibility, future-proofing, and more.

Find the provisional programme and attitional information here.

You can register at this link.

a visit of the develper team on location allowed to source additional materials and plan for the next steps in the reconstruction of lost walls of Girona city and their AR experience

EUreka3D-XR pilot scenario in Girona moving forward into production

EUreka3D-XR partner Swing:IT Software Engineering Italia S.r.l. team met CRDI Ajuntament de Girona for two fruitful days of work, planning and progressing on the virtual visualisation of the Girona historical walls, one of the three XR scenarios developed in the project.

The pilot is about using archival materials to reconstruct in 3D the medieval walls of the city of Girona (Catalonia, Spain); and to reuse such reconstruction for an AR walking tour using a mobile device. The walls were partly demolished at the beginning of the 20th century because of the new urban setting of the city, and so archaeological restoration was not possible anymore.

[Show as slideshow]

In the EUreka3D-XR project, 3D modelling and XR allow to go back to history and recover what was destroyed at that time. Based on cartography, engravings, photography, films and textual records, we will be able to visualise the walls again with a very realistic approach. Using the AI 3D Builder tool that partner project Swing:It is developing, an advanced AI-powered software pipeline to generate 3D models from 2D image collections, it will be possible to recreate very realistic 3D models of the demolished walls. To enable users and tourists to access this reconstruction, the 3D XR Studio, a web-based editor complemented with a mobile application, will allow to create an XR experience aceesible on site.

In the team meeting in July 2025, much work was done including capturing images with a drone as a source for the reconstruction, visiting the location where the virtual reconstruction of the wall will be placed, visiting the City History Museum to get more historical context, all complemented with enriching meetings and discussions about the evaluation and iterative development of the tools and the final outcomes.

In November 2025 the first prototype of the tools is expected to be released, and the Girona walls scenario will be presented in its first version during a demo event set in Girona at the end of January 2026.

Read more about the Pilot on project website: www.eureka3d-xr.eu

Cost-benefit Analysis for the Transition to Circular Tourism: the VERNE methodology

Sustainable Tourism and Green Transition

The VERNE project that participates in the SECreTour Network of Common Interest, has published an interesting news about Cost-benefit Analysis for the Transition to Circular Tourism.

“Yes, sustainability sounds nice, but what will it cost me?” This question stops many tourism businesses from embracing circular practices. The VERNE project aims to provide clear, trustworthy answers through a specialized cost-benefit analysis methodology designed specifically for tourism’s unique challenges.

The VERNE’s cost-benefit analysis methodology will translate sustainability from a vague ideal into concrete financial terms that business leaders can use for decision-making. It will analyse three critical layers:

The Business Model Layer: Examining how circular practices affect core operations, revenue streams, and customer relationships
The Competitive Environment Layer: Assessing how sustainability initiatives impact market positioning, brand value, and customer loyalty
The General Environment Layer: Evaluating broader benefits like regulatory compliance, community relations, and resilience against future disruptions

Stay connected with VERNE to access these valuable tools as they become available.

Follow SECreTour online also on the SECreTour project’s website.

19 September 2025 - 9 October 2025, Pisa

UN/FRAMED digital exhibition

Organized by EstOvestEst-APS, the social promotion association in Pisa, the new modern digital art exhibition UN/FRAMED, curated by digital art expert Claudio Francesconi, will officially open at 7:00 PM on September 19, 2025, at the Bastione del Parlascio, in the heart of Pisa, and will run for one month.

An international summit forum on the ethics of artificial intelligence and digital art will also be held at the Museo della Grafica in Pisa, directed by Professor Alessandro Tosi, Professor of Art History at the University of Pisa.

Read more about UN/FRAMED at this link.

The project UNCODED, in the context of which the exhibition is being held, is actively preparing to relocate a future exhibition to China, to deepen cooperation between China and Italy in the fields of art and technology.

In July 2025, associated to the project plenary, the experts that support the progress of EUreka3D-XR project met with the consortium for discusssion and insights.

EUreka3D-XR Advisory Board meets online

EUreka3D-XR engages with renowned international experts on 3D, cultural heritage documentation, storytelling and visitor experience in AR and XR. This Advisory Board is regularly consulted on project progress, and during the plenary meeting held online on 7-8 July 2025 a dedicated session was organized, to present the early achievements of the pilot scenarios and XR tools that the project is developing.

After an opening overview by project coordinator Antonella Fresa (Photoconsortium), joint presentations were delivered by the pilot participants: about the virtual visualization of the Girona walls, by partners CRDI and Swing.it; about the AR tour of Bibracte archaeological site, by partners Bibracte and NTUA; and about the virtual reconstruction of life in the Saint Neophytos Englystra in Paphos, by partners CUT and Miralab.

Following the presentations, a feedback collection session led by John Balean (Photoconsortium) engaged the experts in a fruitiful discussion on key aspects relating to user engagement, openly accessible tools for 3D and XR creation and management, on the sustainability on the long term, given the rapidly changing pace of the technology and the cultural heritage sector, and finally the challenges on costs and budget constraints that cultural heritage institutions face nowadays.

The slides of the presentation can be accessed from HERE

EU webinar on 10/09/2025

“Better cross-border travel: Europe’s external borders and freedom of movement”

As global mobility rebounds and digital innovation reshapes travel, the EU is taking steps to modernize and streamline cross-border travel.

An exclusive webinar is taking place on 10/09/2025 exploring the future of travel in Europe — from digitalisation of Schengen visa procedures to smart travel documents and faster border processes.

Industry experts from aviation, rail, road and cruise sectors will share practical insights, while European Commission representatives will provide updates on the Entry/Exit System (EES) and the European Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS). The session will also reflect on digital health certificates during the COVID-19 pandemic and their lasting impact on international mobility.

#EUTravel #SchengenVisa #DigitalMobility #ETIAS #EES #FutureOfTravel #seamlessTravel #CrossborderTravel

Follow SECreTour online also on the SECreTour project’s website.

A comprehesive assessment Framework for Circular Tourism from the VERNE project

Beyond Visitors Numbers

The VERNE project that participates in the SECreTour Network of Common Interest,has published an interesting news about sustainability measurement methodologies across tourism certification schemes and academic research models.

Traditional tourism metrics prioritize visitor volume and economic output while overlooking environmental degradation and social impacts on local communities.

The VERNE project addresses this analytical gap through the development of a 𝗺𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶-𝗱𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗳𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 that integrates environmental, social, and economic factors into a comprehensive evaluation systems.

This evidence-based framework represents a very interesting shift from linear measurement approaches to holistic assessment methodologies, designed for practical implementation by tourism businesses, destination management organizations, and public authorities.

The framework recognizes that sustainable tourism transformation requires balanced consideration of all the sustainability dimensions rather than isolated economic optimization. Supported by a comprehensive review, the VERNE project identifies strengths and limitations of current approaches, enabling integration of most effective elements into a unified assessment system.

The proposed tools will enable stakeholders to quantify transition investments and expected returns across different implementation timescales, providing evidence-based decision support for circular tourism adoption.

Follow SECreTour online also on the SECreTour project’s website.

6 August, 15:00-16:00 CEST

Food and Fairytale – creative writing workshop

Organized by Europeana, this creative writing workshop will use illustrations and imagery from the collections available on Europeana.eu to explore the relationship between fairy tales and food.

Anyone can participate, and no previous experience is required. After some warm up exercises you will able to write your story with no obligation to share it.

Regiter and find more information here.

EUreka3D paper published on FGCS Journal

Following Michał Orzechowski presentation of the Lambousa fishing boat case study in the context EUreka3D project at the 15th International Conference on Parallel Processing & Applied Mathematics, a paper on the case was written and submitted by part of EUreka3D team and colleagues, later accepted by FGCS Journal.

FGCS (Future Generation Computer System) Journal aims to lead the way in advances in distributed systems, collaborative environments, high performance and high performance computing, Big Data on such infrastructures as grids, clouds and the Internet of Things.

The paper, titled “Cultural Heritage 3D Object Management with Integrated Automation Workflows“, has now been published: find it at this link.