3/06/2014  Microsoft News Center Europe

An innovative partnership between Microsoft and a joint programme developed by the Council of Europe and the European Commission has been showcasing a new way of empowering the cultural economy and promoting European heritage through technology. European Heritage Days (EHDs) is the biggest participatory cultural initiative shared by the citizens of Europe Each September EHDs attract up to 20 million visitors, generating the greatest promotional and economic value of all European Heritage projects.

Using Microsoft’s Bing Maps technology, an extremely informative portal has made this flagship initiative more accessible than ever for both event organisers and visitors. This portal allows visitors to take a virtual journey to all events organised in the framework of the EHDs, helping tourists to plan their cultural activities by providing a one-stop-shop for all venues and attractions.

“Digitisation and the effective use of IT across the Culture and Heritage sectors are increasingly important to enable democratic access and engagement.”

It has also introduced sweeping changes into the process of online management and promotion of EHDs events. Previously, national EHDs coordinators had to rely on local websites to leverage access activities organised in their countries. The revamped EHDs site offers them the first truly collaborative platform to reach out to European audiences in other countries and work with fellow coordinators on common themes and strategies. National coordinators can now upload and update their content as well as grant access to the content management system to local coordinators. They have also got a new tool for engaging culture vultures from across Europe in conversations and picture sharing to create positive stories around their events.

This dynamic portal embodies a new, democratic cultural platform, through which local communities will benefit from the same visibility and access to exchange as well-known urban heritage sites currently enjoy. Claudia Luciani, Director of Democratic Governance at the Council of Europe, emphasised: “Digitisation and the effective use of IT across the Culture and Heritage sectors are increasingly important to enable democratic access and engagement”. The goal is to give equal visibility to all the treasures of European heritage and culture, regardless of their size, resources or location.

“Technology is a great enabler across all sectors of the economy. The European cultural and creative sectors already represent up to 4.5% of European GDP and account for some 3.8% of the EU workforce (8.5 million people).”

This successful collaboration has inspired a debate on the best way of advancing the vision of further synergies between technology providers and key European institutions working in the culture and heritage sectors. Luciani stated that the Council of Europe welcomes the role that Microsoft has played in driving “an exchange of view on these questions between leaders of Culture, Heritage and Digitisation Programmes Which has The Association for Culture and Tourism Exchange (ACTE) is another organisation which has engaged in a dynamic partnership between technology and culture. This international NGO worked with Microsoft on a project that supports the European dimension of wine culture by setting out the first comprehensive map of European wine routes. The Wine Community Platform uses Bing Maps to offer wine communities privileged access to cultural and commercial exchanges, giving them a competitive edge on local and international markets. In addition, by using Microsoft´s ¨cloud¨ services, the platform benefits from greater scalability and performance that will deliver the best possible user experience, while reducing implementation and operational costs.

“This collaboration with the Council of Europe and the ACTE has offered a unique opportunity for Microsoft to impact the life of Europeans and millions of people from around the world looking for a taste of Europe.”

Technology is a great enabler across all sectors of the economy. The European cultural and creative sectors already represent up to 4.5% of European GDP and account for some 3.8% of the EU workforce (8.5 million people). By collaborating with the Council of Europe and ACTE we hope to help this vital sector of the economy reap the benefits of digital technology. This is part of our longstanding commitment to help Europe, its citizens and its businesses thrive. Through our devices and services, SME ecosystem, R&D centers and corporate initiatives, we are dedicated to accelerating innovation, creating opportunities and providing solutions to societal challenges across the continent.

These collaborations have proved that technology can foster cross-frontier links between cultural projects and facilitate new partnerships between European culture managers and entrepreneurs. More importantly though, Microsoft is proud that our technology is contributing to business and tourism in local communities that previously lacked the tools to reach potential visitors and customers…

“This collaboration with the Council of Europe and ACTE has offered a unique opportunity for Microsoft to impact the life of Europeans and millions of people from around the world looking for a taste of Europe”, concluded Stephen Collins, Microsoft Vice President for Corporate Affairs.

Read original article at: https://news.microsoft.com/europe/2014/06/03/european-institutions-use-technology-to-foster-culture-and-heritage/

Because of its powerful impact on the creation of lifestyle and social value, and because of its

very real economic impact, the creative industry sector needs proper management. It needs the

kind of cultural policy that will stimulate creativity and competitive diversity, as well as wealth

creation. Governments increasingly recognise this, but effective management of the new

cultural landscape requires a new vision of culture, and new tools to articulate that vision. There

are three significant challenges for governments wishing to develop effective policy for the

creative economy: gaining information on the new economy in order to intervene effectively;

sharing power and using new partnerships in the management of culture; sustaining the locally

based creative pool, while creating access to international cultural exchange.

POLICY CHALLENGES TO SUSTAINING A CREATIVE ECOLOGY

First Challenge: Information.

Governments cannot intervene in a vacuum. They need useful information on the new sector.

There is little systematically developed information on the CI sector. The new cultural landscape

is linked to new information technologies and this means it is in constant evolution. In order to

develop good policy and invest realistically in the new cultural economy, governments need a

source of relevant information that can be continually updated from within the cultural sector.

Second Challenge: New management partnerships

First, the cultural industries sector is both cultural and economic; its products: film, music, video,

design, architecture, crafts etc. contain both a cultural vision and an economic value. The

cultural industries do not sit squarely either in the field of cultural policy or economic policy, they

straddle the two policy fields. But, unlike traditional cultural policy, which is associated with a

close and direct involvement with the sector, policy for the creative industries requires a more

arms length approach, facilitating and enabling but not directly supporting. A new type of cultural

interface based on cultural intermediaries can assist in this.

Third Challenge: Sustaining local creativity while ensuring access to transnational

cultural exchange. Smaller cultural producers need help gaining access to the market. One of

the biggest hurdles to this is the fact that while cultural production is local, the market is regional

and global, and so cultural producers need the kind of assistance which is transnational. They

need actual and virtual mobility in cultural exchange but there are few regional mechanisms

which enable independent cultural producers to directly work in the regional or global market.

Local cultural producers do not need to be protected and directly funded, but they do need to be

given a level playing field and the capacity to use it. In this they need: relevant information on

the cultural sector locally, regionally and internationally; they need access to information on

financial and other resources; a free and open local and regional/European cultural exchange

network.

ACT’s RESPONSES TO THESE CHALLENGES

Activity: Development of cultural data and information through cultural mapping:

Objective: To provide governments and cultural authorities with the information necessary to

develop policy tools for the creative industries sector.

Activity: Training of cultural entrepreneurs or intermediaries with the capacity to develop

capacity and facilitate market access on the part of local level cultural producers:

Objective: To promote a European expertise in cultural entrepreneurship which respects and

adapts those local level cultural conditions which are the source of diversity and creativity.

Activity: Creation of an electronic network linking the localities engaged in the project,

through interactive cultural portals:

Objective: To create local level capacity through access

to an international exchange of a broad range of cultural information and services accessible to

all cultural actors.

The term ‘cultural capital is used to draw attention to the fact that the new cultural economy

asks us to take account of the economic component in cultural production. The term is not

intended to evoke the meaning of a cultural capital stock held by an individual, who has

acquired a rich set of cultural competencies. Rather, it emphasises the economic context within

which the relations of cultural production are embedded. The term refers to both tangible forms

of value (buildings, artworks etc.) and intangible forms of value (intellectual capital, ideas,

concepts, beliefs etc.). The term speaks to the economic value of cultural creativity but, in equal

measure, it insists that the cultural principles of intergenerational equity (sustainability) and

diversity become fundamental principles governing cultural production, in the context of the

cultural economy.

 The ACT project works at the interface of culture and economy and will seek commercial

support and will involve the private sector in its activities around cultural production. At the

same time, because it is a cultural project, it will advance the principles of independent access,

creativity and cooperative exchange. The Project promotes the idea of a ‘creative ecology’,

which implies a respect for sustainable development in the baseline relationships around

creative production and exchange.

According to Wikipedia “Smart tourism is an important component of  a smart Tourism and is one of the major components of economic growth for communities worldwide. Smart tourism refers to the application of information and communication technology for developing innovative tools and approaches to improve tourism”.

We believe that a great way to encourage the development of smart communities is to provide a universal platform that can be easily adapted and customized for communities. Smart connected cultural communities will stimulate local development in the cultural sector by helping to attract and retain cultural producers by providing them with opportunities offered through access to the global economy. “Smart” connected cultural communities will also help to improve the quality of life of all cultural actors by providing easier access to local and regional information services, markets and networks.ive sty

When communities adapt smart technology, community managers can monitor tourism in real time providing valuable analytical information so they can make better decisions.

We have developed the ACT Platform that engages a multitude of cultural actors, business entities, and individuals in a virtual infrastructure intended to benefit all parties involved.