Last week, the HERIFORGE Cyprus Hub team met with the two Cyprus based recipients of the first Open Call at The Cyprus Institute, marking the official start of their collaboration.
We are pleased to be working with:
CODE ETC. on their project; “Giuliana: Reconnecting Heritage Through Immersive Storytelling”, a WebAR experience at Porta Giuliana that will introduce visitors to Cyprus’ history through accessible and immersive storytelling.
Athanor Enterprises on their project; “Echoes of Cyprus”, an immersive XR series bringing the island’s heritage to life through interactive narratives and high-fidelity 3D reconstructions of key historical sites.
Both projects respond to the Cyprus Hub challenge: Collaborative XR Experiences for Innovation in Cultural Heritage, which encourages XR developers and Cultural Heritage Institutions to co-design meaningful, interactive experiences rooted in both tangible and intangible heritage.
These Open Call projects will act as real life test cases, contributing directly to HERIFORGE’s research by exploring how high quality 3D cultural heritage data can be transformed into reusable, interoperable XR experiences while maintaining strong narrative depth and alignment with FAIR principles.
The projects will be developed in close collaboration with Cyprus Hub mentors Nick Loucas, Senior Research Technical Scientist at The Cyprus Institute and Haris Shekeris, Research & Development Project Manager at Catalink Ltd, ensuring a shared learning process between researchers, XR industry professionals, and cultural heritage stakeholders. This collaboration highlights the importance of cross-sector and cross-border engagement within the cultural heritage ecosystem. By bringing together expertise from across disciplines and countries, HERIFORGE Cultural Heritage and Immersive Technologies Forge continues to build a foundation for innovation in XR for Cultural Heritage.
We look forward to following the development of these projects and to the insights they will generate for the wider HERIFORGE community.