On the 25 th October, COST Connect: Cultural Heritage in the Digital Era brought 70 leading figures from the heritage sector, who are based across Europe, together for an open forum in Brussels. The event was held with a view to the upcoming European Year of Cultural Heritage in 2018, as well as to facilitate the exchanging of ideas and to create discussion about impact and cooperation within the field.
Attendees from across Europe joined together for COST Connect: Cultural Heritage in the Digital Era.
The event was designed by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) to create significant outcomes and partnerships that will encourage greater cooperation amongst different disciplines and reduce duplicate research activities. In order to achieve this goal, attendees of the event included representatives from a number of European Institutions, as well as members of COST Actions associated with cultural heritage.
During the morning, short presentations were given by key organisations working within cultural heritage including, Europeana, Joint Programming Initiatives (JPI) and the European Research Council (ERC). After the presentations, a number of Pro Action Café discussions were held in small groups before a summary was given to the room. Attendees were asked to think about wider consequences relating to the sector, “The question is not what the impact of protecting our cultural heritage is, but what is the cost of not protecting it at all?”
The day closed with presentations from representatives from the Estonian, Bulgarian and Austrian Council Presidencies.
L-R: COST Director, Ronald de Bruin with representatives, Eike Eller (Estonia), Heidemarie Meissnitzer (Austria) and Vladimir Manolov (Bulgaria)
Many event participants expressed their thoughts about the day through Twitter using the official hashtag #COSTconnect including, Eveline Wandl-Vogt who attended the event as representative for COST Action IS1305, European Network of e-Lexicography ; “Views on cultural heritage, inspiring insights, outlines, methods and people #COSTconnect”
Gertjan Filarski, who was representing COST Action IS1310, Reassembling the Republic of Letters, 1500-1800 A digital framework for multi-lateral collaboration on Europe’s intellectual history added; “Spent yesterday and today networking in Brussels. To quote a colleague: this is experiencing the EU at its best”
The next COST Connect: The relevance of impact in R&I Policy – What role for networks will be held on the 24 th November 2017 for further information email cost.connect4@cost.eu