Minister of Culture Lina Mendoni and the Rector of the National Technical University of Athens, Ioannis Hatzigeorgiou, signed a new Memorandum of Cooperation, renewing and expanding the strategic partnership between the Ministry of Culture and Sports and the NTUA, in the field of digital culture and the use of advanced technologies for the protection, study, and promotion of cultural heritage. In addition, a Program Agreement was signed between the Ministry of Culture and the National Technical University of Athens to transform the Ministry’s digital cultural repository into “smart” knowledge infrastructure, which will support the day-to-day operations of the Ministry’s services and the promotion of monuments to the international public.

The Minister of Culture, Lina Mendoni, stated: “The signing of the Memorandum of Cooperation with the National Technical University of Athens underscores our shared commitment to the strategic modernization of the protection and promotion of our cultural heritage. Our goal is the organic integration of science and modern technology with the arts, ensuring the sustainable management of cultural heritage in the age of digital technology and artificial intelligence. Through our collaboration, we aim to design innovative research initiatives and develop digital infrastructure, making full use of available funding tools and the advanced expertise of our country’s oldest technological institution. Through knowledge exchange and the implementation of pilot programs, we safeguard intellectual property by promoting Greek culture internationally as a vibrant field of creativity and scientific excellence. Digital transformation in culture is a reality that we are building through steady, systematic, and institutional steps.”

Ioannis Hatzigeorgiou, Rector of the National Technical University of Athens, stated: “The signing of the Memorandum of Cooperation with the Ministry of Culture clearly underscores the commitment of both institutions to pioneer, jointly and collaboratively, the promotion of our cultural heritage. At the same time, it serves as recognition of the University’s technological excellence, which, within the framework of its ongoing collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, will develop innovative Artificial Intelligence applications in areas related to history and culture, actively participating in the successful implementation of the Ministry of Culture’s national strategy for the management and promotion of our centuries-old heritage.”

Emmanuel Varvarigos, Vice Rector for Research, Innovation, and Outreach, focused on the research being conducted by NTUA professors in the field of Culture, emphasizing the role played by Digital Technologies and Artificial Intelligence in highlighting cultural heritage and disseminating its results throughout society.

Prof. George Stamou, Director of the Laboratory of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning at the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), noted: “By signing the Memorandum of Cooperation, the Ministry of Culture and the National Technical University of Athens seek to jointly strengthen their educational, scientific, and research collaboration. Our collaboration focuses on issues related to the application of computer science and technology in the Arts and Culture, as well as the preservation, protection, and promotion of cultural heritage through artificial intelligence technologies. Furthermore, under the framework of the program agreement, the Artificial Intelligence and Learning Systems Laboratory (AILS Lab) at the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) will provide scientific, technical, and advisory support to the Ministry of Culture, as well as the design and implementation of pilot initiatives for the utilization of artificial intelligence systems based on large multimodal language models (Large Vision-Language Models – LVLMs).”

The new three-year Memorandum builds on the collaboration launched in 2020 between the two organizations, updating and expanding the scope of their joint activities. Particular emphasis is placed on the research and development of Artificial Intelligence applications for the analysis and processing of large volumes of cultural data, the digital documentation of monuments and collections, as well as the creation of innovative tools that enhance the research, protection, and promotion of cultural heritage.

The collaboration also aims to develop a joint strategy in the field of digital culture, the design and implementation of scientific and development-oriented actions and programs, as well as the utilization of national and European funding instruments for the development of modern digital infrastructure. At the same time, the agreement provides for the development of pilot applications, the implementation of joint research projects, and the transfer of know-how between the two institutions. The renewal of the partnership between the Ministry of Culture and the National Technical University of Athens underscores the importance of combining scientific research with public policy in the cultural sector, contributing to the development of modern methods for managing and utilizing the country’s cultural heritage and strengthening the international presence of Greek culture in the digital environment.

The Program Agreement signed by Minister of Culture Lina Mendoni and the Vice Rector for Research, Innovation and Outreach at the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), Emmanouil Varvarigos, has a duration of twelve months, with a budget of €310,000. The entire funding is covered by resources from the Ministry of Culture. The research program’s central objective is to transform the scattered and unstructured cultural heritage into dynamic knowledge bases, which will feed advanced Artificial Intelligence models, offering new tools for cultural heritage management. In this context, specialized AI applications with RAG architecture are being developed to support the Ministry of Culture’s services in making informed decisions regarding UNESCO World Heritage sites. At the same time, efforts are underway to digitally organize material on Christian and Ottoman monuments across the country, with the aim of creating educational and tourism applications using GIS systems.