Technological innovation benefiting cultural heritage

NEOMA BS has invested in the European project VISTA-AR, whose object is to encourage cultural heritage sites to adopt leading digital technology in order to offer their visitors new experiences, thereby increasing the number of visits to the sites.
Financed by the European programme Interreg V, and organised by the University of Exeter, this group brings together 8 partners from both sides of the Channel.

Southern England and northern France have a wealth of cultural heritage sites that depend on tourist revenue. VISTA-AR aims at increasing the number of visits to these sites by providing them with access to new immersive and virtual technologies.

Château de Fougères in France and Exeter Cathedral in England are the sites that have been selected to offer visitors an updated and entertaining vision of cultural heritage by experiencing the sites through innovative technology, such as immersive rooms and augmented reality tools.

To help the cultural heritage sites develop their own applications and scenarios, VISTA-AR has the goal of creating a library of models and generic animations and a database of the main actors involved in cultural heritage. In order to optimise the benefits and ensure transferability, these specific tools will be accessible through a cloud-based system and expanded by the users.
Over time, the goal is to create a heritage centre that unites the two sides of the Channel for the purpose of promoting the circulation of a common solution.

The far-reaching cooperation between partners stems from the complementarity of their skills in the fields of tourism, digital technologies, economics and management (customer experience, business models).
NEOMA Business School will work mainly on the French side of the Channel space, in conjunction with Château de Fougères, the Gardens of Valloires and the Lorient Submarine Museum.
NEOMA BS will oversee the collection and analysis of data concerning visitors to the French sites in order to tailor it to the proposed applications.
Through this collected essential information, the researchers will be able to help the cultural heritage sites install new augmented reality equipment (headsets, tablets, immersive rooms and digital furnishings) to attract more visitors and increase revenue.

VISTA-AR partners:

• Exeter University
• Regional Council of Brittany
• Commune of Fougères
• Bournemouth University
• French Centre of Industrial Studies (CESI)
• NEOMA Business School
• The European Art School of Brittany (EESAB)
• The Corporate Body of the Cathedral of St Peter

The VISTA-AR project is part of the European programme Interreg V France (Manche) - England

This transnational collaborative programme unites twelve French departments and twenty-four counties and English unitary authorities around the Channel. Its goal is to finance high-quality cooperative projects between France and England as part of the Europe 2020 strategy.

Divided into three sources of financing, the programme aims to:

• Encourage innovation in the Channel region,
• Support the transition towards a low-carbon economy,
• Improve the attractiveness of the territories around the Channel.

>Discover all articles and videos about VISTA-AR project

Programme priority: To realise the potential of natural and cultural assets to deliver innovation and sustainable growth.

The allocated budget is €8,292,568.68 with European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) co-funding of 69%.

This includes an extension with budget awarded in November 2020 to allow the project to mitigate the risks of the pandemic.