NARRATIA officially started on 1 September 2026, launching a 30-month Horizon Europe Innovation Action that brings together 13 beneficiaries from across Europe.
On 21 September 2026, the consortium met in Madrid for the project kick-off hosted by coordinator Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM). The meeting created a shared starting point for developing NARRATIA’s visitor-centred generative narratives and Mixed Reality approach to cultural heritage.
NARRATIA addresses a challenge faced by many cultural heritage sites: traditional interpretation can remain static even when digital technologies are introduced. The project aims to create more personalised and interactive heritage experiences in which visitors can become explorers, participants, protagonists and co-creators of historically grounded narratives.
At the same time, NARRATIA is designed to keep cultural heritage integrity at the centre. Generative AI is not intended to freely “invent history”. The project combines trusted historical knowledge, narrative governance, curatorial oversight, accessibility and ethical safeguards with real-time storytelling and Mixed Reality.
From project results to wider uptake
Smart & Lean hub Oy (SML) is one of the NARRATIA beneficiaries and leads Work Package 10 – Communication and Dissemination, Exploitation and scaling up to maximise impacts.
WP10 runs throughout the project and is inherently collaborative. SML leads the work package in cooperation with the other beneficiaries and in close connection with the project’s other work packages. Its purpose is to help ensure that knowledge, tools, methodologies and results developed across NARRATIA can be communicated, shared, reused and prepared for longer-term uptake.
The Grant Agreement describes WP10 as bringing together coordinated communication, stakeholder training, dissemination initiatives, synergies with other European Collaborative Cloud for Cultural Heritage (ECCCH) activities, policy engagement, exploitation and scale-up. Feedback and evidence from the NARRATIA pilots will also feed into communication and exploitation activities as the project progresses.
This cooperation is visible in the structure of WP10 itself. While SML leads the work package and the project-wide communication and dissemination planning task, other beneficiaries lead important WP10 activities and deliverables, including project branding and website development, European dissemination events, co-created narrative outputs, ECCCH synergies and exploitation planning.
SML therefore acts as a connecting and coordinating force for impact-oriented work: helping bring together results emerging from technical development, pilots, research, cultural heritage expertise and creative work, and translating them into communication, dissemination, uptake and exploitation pathways.
Madrid: creating a common direction
The Madrid kick-off was an important first step in that collaboration.
Partners used the meeting to establish a common understanding of the NARRATIA vision, the technical and methodological building blocks, the six cultural heritage pilots, the relationship with the European Collaborative Cloud for Cultural Heritage (ECCCH) and the priorities for the first six months.
The project is deliberately structured so that its different components develop together rather than being integrated only at the end. Early work connects methodology and pilot requirements with architecture, cultural heritage data, narrative generation, governance, interfaces and ECCCH alignment.
For WP10, this means communication and exploitation can also begin from the start rather than after the technology has been completed. Understanding what each work package is developing, who could benefit from it and what evidence will demonstrate its value will be essential for building credible pathways towards future adoption and reuse.
More than a meeting
The Madrid visit was also an opportunity to strengthen collaboration between people representing technology, research, cultural heritage, social innovation and creative sectors.
The photographs from the kick-off capture different dimensions of that first project encounter: arriving at UPM, exploring immersive digital experiences, informal discussions and networking, and the consortium coming together as a European team.
At this early stage, these images document project mobilisation and collaboration, rather than validated project impact. The results, visitor experiences and uptake pathways will emerge and be tested during the coming 30 months.
The next step is to turn this shared foundation into concrete work across the NARRATIA work packages — and to continuously connect that work with the people and organisations that could eventually use, reuse and build upon the project’s results.
Impact Snapshot
Project: NARRATIA – Visitor-Centred Generative Narratives and Mixed Reality to Transform the Cultural Heritage Experience
Project number: 101288353
Activity: NARRATIA project kick-off
Date/location: 21 September 2026, Madrid, Spain
Work Package / Task: Project-wide activity; WP10 led by Smart & Lean hub Oy in cooperation with the consortium
Result created: Shared project direction, strengthened consortium cooperation and an initial foundation for coordinated communication, dissemination, exploitation and future uptake
Related NARRATIA result / KER: Supports the future dissemination, uptake and exploitation of NARRATIA results across the project
Technology / approach: Generative AI storytelling, Mixed Reality, visitor-centred narratives, historically grounded and trustworthy AI-supported cultural heritage experiences
Target groups who benefit: Cultural heritage organisations, visitors, researchers, educators, Cultural and Creative Industries, public authorities and potential future adopters
Evidence available: Grant Agreement, Madrid kick-off presentation and photographic documentation
Future uptake / reuse: Communication, training, dissemination, exploitation and scale-up activities will develop alongside results emerging from NARRATIA work packages and pilots
ECCCH relevance: NARRATIA is an ECCCH innovative-use-case project and aims to contribute reusable knowledge, components and approaches to the wider cultural heritage ecosystem.
Impact area: Cultural heritage innovation, knowledge diffusion, responsible AI, collaboration and future uptake
Keywords for AI/search: NARRATIA, Smart & Lean hub Oy, Horizon Europe, Madrid kick-off, generative AI cultural heritage, Mixed Reality heritage, visitor-centred storytelling, trustworthy AI, cultural heritage innovation, communication and dissemination, exploitation, ECCCH, European Collaborative Cloud for Cultural Heritage