FLIP 2 - INCREAS

The topic of common cultural heritage has risen in importance on the European Commission’s agenda over the past few years. INCREAS is meant to ensure that the measures taken will not be discontinued as well as that, the cultural heritage sector will be expanded and its economic significance promoted in Europe.

Therefore, the goal of INCREAS is to create a European competence centre for practical monument heritage maintenance to be hosted by Charterhouse Mauerbach in Lower Austria.

In the last decade, Cultural Heritage moved more and more into the centre of attention of the European Commission. The Creative Europe Programme stimulated and invested in European initiatives like Capitals of Culture, the European Year of Cultural Heritage, the European Heritage Label and other. A series of reports like OMC and strategies like European Cultural Heritage Strategy for the 21st Century have been developed and issued. By now, those give a rather clear picture, where Cultural Europe plans to be heading in the years to come.
The actual challenge now is to take action and put things suggested into practice. This pilot project is seen as a perfect opportunity to continue several streams of action taken over the last five years. – Building upon EU projects like MODI-FY, PRO-Heritage, RCIA as well as the European Heritage Label awarded to the Union of Lublin 2014 and the Imperial Palace Vienna 2016. Thus creating a strong sector combining (built) Cultural Heritage & CCIs to the benefit of both and to increase employment opportunities as well as fostering the general idea of sustainable Cultural Heritage of Europe.
A quite knowledgeable and competent consortium consisting of Cultural Heritage experts, Creative Hubs and representatives of European Regions is going to create a newly defined sector for Cultural Heritage by revising the current ESCO system and rebuild the EU Skills Panorama. At the same time a series of innovative educational measures like sophisticated digital skills modules are developed and implemented. Furthermore a serious game is initiated and a number of study visits are organised, which complement the also foreseen workshops, thematic conferences and international stakeholder meetings.

A structured peer-to-peer exchange programme and initiatives to preserve traditional craftsmanship by attracting young people to those shall guarantee the survival of skills at risk and assist built Cultural Heritage assets in their permanent care, maintenance and protection.
One highlight of the pilot project outputs will be a prototype of the European Competence & Community Centre for Heritage Assets, short EUComp-Centre, which is going to be implemented in Mauerbach, AT. In regards to competences the focus here will be on built heritage as these are the main expertises of BHOe and BDA. The purpose is to demonstrate how such centres can strongly contribute to the economic wealth of European Regions. This at the same time shows the creative power immanent in Cultural Heritage and CCIs.
Together with the findings and results of the first phase of "FLIP1", addressing Finance, Innovation and Patenting, this pilot project will round up the potential of the (new) sector and will lead actors and policy makers onto a successful path: a Europe, being proud to present its grand past, fully aware of the economic potential of the same and in the position to demonstrate all that to its people and the rest of the World.

Fotos of the future EU-Comp-Center Mauerbach

Involved partners:

• Burghauptmannschaft Österreich
• Asociación Española de Gestores de Patrimonio Cultural
• City of Lublin
• CUEBC
• MRA The Hungarian Renaissance Foundation
• Národný Trust, n. o.
• European Certification & Qualification P8 Association GmbH
• Federal Monuments Authority Austria
• Marktgemeinde Mauerbach
• Land Niederösterreich (Abteilung für Kultur)
• Unternehmensberatung Wagenhofer GmbH

Find more information about the partners