Digital Innovation in Cultural Heritage and Activities

The Digital Innovation in Heritage & Culture Observatory is formed with the aim of supporting the digital innovation adoption process within cultural institutions and as a place where different players of the cultural ecosystem can meet. The Observatory aims at becoming for the Italian cultural ecosystem a place to:
- Provide a systemic view of digital innovation applied to the processes of conservation, enhancement, management, promotion, marketing and use of heritage, products and services in the art and culture market, to facilitate the upgrading of the cultural ecosystem;
- Monitor digital trends in this sector;
- Facilitate the alignment between innovation demand and offer through round tables on specific themes;
- Raise awareness of players and decision makers toward sustainable digital transformation.

The 2021-2022 Research on digital innovation in the culture sector is divided into four main areas:

• Analysis of the state of adoption and spread of digital resources in cultural institutes: two surveys addressed to i) Italian museums, monuments, and archeological sites ii) Italian theaters to understand the current status, market trends, and the impact of the pandemic on the cultural sector;
• Survey on cultural consumption addressed to users to investigate usage characteristics and model of cultural product usage to provide useful information to cultural institutes;
• Survey of active Startups in tourism, cultural tourism, and culture to map the attributes of the services provided to cultural institutes and users by innovative Italian and international startups;
• Analysis of web presence (sites, social media, etc.) of Italian cultural institutes.

Research findings are also the result of systematic feedback and comparison with the Partner Community, Sponsors, cultural Institutes with which the Observatory interacts throughout the year in interviews and dedicated meetings.