EVoCH Platform: experiences and indicators in Europe

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Ever since its launch three years ago at the European Parliament, the Platform has pursued the aim of creating a wide European network focusing on cultural heritage in order to publicise and create broad-based awareness of the economic value of cultural heritage.

This network now has more than 60 members from 15 countries, and its forthcoming meeting will be held in Ferrara, Italy, which is also the venue for the RESTAURO Fair, one of Europe’s leading heritage events, along with AR&PA.

The meeting is the initiative of the regional government of Castilla y León, a founding body of the Platform, working in partnership on this occasion with the Italian Ministry of Culture, and supported by the other driving forces in the network, the Office of the Secretary of State for Culture of Portugal, the European association AEERPA, the Italian association Assorestauro, the Santa María la Real Foundation for Historic Heritage, the Caja Madrid Foundation, the CARTIF technology centre, the TECNALIA technology centre and the Directorate General of Historic Heritage of the regional government of Madrid.

Specific studies on the economic returns of heritage in Europe will be discussed at the event, for example Portugal’s Feira Patrimonio.pt, spearheaded by the company Spira, the Strategic Report on the Heritage Sector in Catalonia, produced by the Catalan Cultural Heritage Agency in Spain, and a report on the lifecycle of heritage management in Italy by the University of Pavia, in collaboration with the Universities of Modena and Reggio Emilia in Italy and the University of Comillas in Spain. Meanwhile, the regional government of Castilla y León will be discussing how to implement the EVoCH principles in the recently-approved Strategic Plan for the Cultural Heritage of Castilla y León, the PAHIS 2020 Plan.