INCREAS – Innovation and Creative Solutions for Cultural Heritage is a European Union-funded project aimed at promoting initiatives to enhance the cultural sector, starting with the recognition of professions and skills at the EU level. Hence the choice of the project title, which is pronounced the same way as the English word “increase”: not merely an acronym, then, but the watchword guiding the partners’ actions—to grow, improve, and develop.

INCREAS builds upon a successful series of European projects that have already involved cooperation among the partners, thereby providing the added value of a highly consolidated partnership.


In particular, the European University Centre for Cultural Heritage draws on the experience gained through the Erasmus+ Modi-fy project—conducted from 2015 to 2017—which was dedicated to enhancing the skills of professionals involved in the management of historical-artistic real estate assets.

Specifically, the INCREAS partnership involves 11 entities operating in 6 different states.

The project lead is the Burghauptmannschaft Österreich, the agency that manages the most important state-owned properties of historical and artistic significance in Austria. The other Austrian partners are the Austrian Federal Monuments Authority (Bundesdenkmalamt); ECQA, a non-profit association promoting the harmonization of quality criteria for competence assessment across a wide range of professions through the definition of a globally shared certification scheme; the Municipality of Mauerbach; and the regional government of Lower Austria. Poland is represented by the City of Lublin, which was awarded the European Heritage Label in 2014. There are also various bodies and associations operating in the field of cultural heritage management: in addition to the European University Centre for Cultural Heritage, participants include the Spanish organization AEGPC (Asociación Española De Gestores de Patrimonio Cultural), the Hungarian entity Magyar Reneszánsz Alapítvány, and the Slovakian Národný Trust.

The Austrian consultancy firm UBW Unternehmensberatung Wagenhofer GmbH acts as project manager.

The project lasted 28 months; its primary objective was to enhance the professional profiles associated with cultural heritage management and the cultural and creative industries, specifically by promoting their greater visibility on European portals dedicated to the recognition of skills and professions (such as the ESCO portal).

To this end, the project has undertaken a wide range of actions based on an integrated approach that, on the one hand, addresses the theoretical and definitional aspects and, on the other, aims to develop tools to facilitate the implementation and embedding of good practices.

First and foremost, the partnership has already initiated a comprehensive mapping of innovative and creative projects currently underway in the participating countries.
The aim of this initiative is certainly to define the state of the art regarding new cultural projects; above all, however, it offers an opportunity to foster the structuring and consolidation of a network that promotes the sharing of experiences and best practices at the European level. This is particularly significant given the new challenges posed by the pandemic—especially regarding the post-pandemic recovery—for which a transnational network of stakeholders undoubtedly provides valuable support.

Another key aspect of the INCREAS project is the identification of skills “at risk”: this involves a wide range of knowledge and expertise—primarily within the traditional crafts and construction sectors—that are at risk of being lost or have already been lost. INCREAS aims to design initiatives focused on the recovery and enhancement of a genuine form of intangible cultural heritage that is at risk of dying out.

Particularly significant is the focus placed on digital skills, highlighted by INCREAS’s objective of promoting the role of a digital expert for cultural heritage. The reference is not to activities requiring a high level of specialization (such as the digitization of archives and collections, for instance), but rather to a broad set of digital skills essential for professionals in the field—a need stemming from the observation of a widespread gap common to all the national contexts examined, regardless of specific, contingent differences.