The Cultural Heritage (CH) Research and Innovation (R&I) landscape has changed significantly over the past few years. New political, technological and socio-economic parameters put emphasis on improving protection, conservation and restoration efficiency of European CH with green technologies, as well as developing and further exploiting high quality digitisation, open access and curation of digital assets. The need also exists to enhance the innovation potential and competitive edge of the Cultural and Creative Sector (CCS) to drive sustainable growth and job creation against global competition. Responding to these challenges, the project will develop a pan European framework for a holistic approach to CH R&I, by creating the Alliance for Research on Cultural Heritage in Europe (ARCHE), a spearheading coordination network of researchers, innovators, heritage professionals, institutional bodies and citizens. The objective is to engage all CH actors in member States / Associated Countries in the co-design of R&I strategies and roadmaps that lead to R&I initiatives requiring multidisciplinary approaches and skills A detailed assessment of R&I gaps and needs for the next decade will be the basis for designing a Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) for joint programming aiming to increase awareness of heritage and European sense of belonging. A new purpose-built governance structure will be proposed that will effectively involve existing networks and new partners from relevant scientific disciplines and industries. It will also promote intensive and wide-ranging collaboration between cultural heritage, the arts, and the CCS. The SRIA and governance structure will be tested in a pilot operation in the third and final year. ARCHE will be a strong basis for a European Partnership in CH, by pooling, developing and upscaling transnational collaboration on CH R&I and by involving all stakeholders and funding mechanisms related to CH R&I policy and action.

Joint Programming is a process combining a strategic framework, a bottom-up approach and high-level commitment from the Member States (MS). It builds on the experience gained from existing schemes, coordinating national programmes by contributing to the reduction in fragmentation of research efforts of MS, stepping up the mobilisation of skills, knowledge and resources, advancing research and innovation in the specific field. The JPI in "Cultural Heritage and Global Change: a new Challenge for Europe" - JPICH - was approved by the Council was launched in January 2010. The JPICH has defined the Vision Document, the Terms of Reference, the Strategic Research Agenda (SRA), an Action Programme and a monitoring and evaluation procedure. The experience gained over the past 4 years in JPICH development and implementation has been achieved through the active participation of 17 EU MS and AC and 8 Countries participating with the role of Observers. The present CSA JHEP2 Proposal intends to support the implementation of the Strategic Research Agenda following the recommendations emerging from the High level Group for joint programming (GPC) in the Biennial Report 2014 and in the Report on "Alignment in the context of Joint Programming", which specifically address the recommendation to develop alignment of national research and innovation programmes and activities and application of qualitative and quantitative Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).The main objectives addressed within the present proposal are: - Develop effective and efficient governance of the alignment of the national research and innovation programmes. - Reinforce common activities on cultural heritage. - Apply quantitative and qualitative KPIs for monitoring an assessing the JPICH alignment process. The support to the JPICH with the present JHEP2 Proposal will be essential for achieving the above-mentioned objectives and proceed with the integration of the research area on Cultural Heritage.

The IPERION HS proposal aims at establishing and operating an Integrating Activity for a distributed pan-European research infrastructure, opening key national research facilities of recognised excellence in heritage science. Heritage science is a young and cross-cutting scientific domain embracing a wide range of research disciplines enabling deeper understanding of the past and improved care for the future of heritage. Since 2016, heritage science is included in the ESFRI Roadmap as one of the strategic areas in the domain of Social Sciences and Humanities, where it is represented by the ESFRI Project E-RIHS (European Research Infrastructure for Heritage Science). IPERION HS will provide to the advanced community of heritage science - built and reinforced with the support of four EU projects spanning across four Framework Programmes, approaching 20 years of constant service to the heritage domain - a further level of pan-European integration, in view of the establishment of E-RIHS. IPERION HS is a further step towards a unified scientific approach to the most advanced European instruments for the analysis, interpretation, preservation, documentation and management of heritage objects in the fields of art history, conservation, archaeology and palaeontology. IPERION HS core activity will be offering Trans-National Access to a wide range of high-level scientific instruments, methodologies, data and tools for advancing knowledge and innovation in the domain. In addition, IPERION HS will contribute joint innovative research for a better interoperability not limited to data, but including sample materials, methods and instruments. The networking activities in the project aim at reinforcing the binding in the group and at creating a sense of belonging for heritage science researchers which will exploit the RI services. IPERION HS consists of partners from 22 Countries clustered around their national nodes.