Periodic Reporting for period 2 - RECHARGE (Resilient European Cultural Heritage As Resource for Growth and Engagement)
Période du rapport: 2023-10-01 au 2025-09-30
RECHARGE focuses on strengthening stakeholder participation to unlock cultural, social, and financial value for cultural heritage institutions and organisations (CHIs/CHOs). The pandemic highlighted their role in citizen engagement and well-being, but also exposed financial vulnerabilities. RECHARGE addresses this by turning stakeholder relationships into sustainable financial models that support CHI/CHO continuity.
Participation is central to CHIs/CHOs, enabling communities—corporate, civic, or institutional—to act as stakeholders. Through nine Living Labs, RECHARGE co-created and tested participatory business models, generating financial, cultural, and social impact, which the consortium documented and analysed.
Long-term impact is driven by the project’s tools and resources. Combining academic research with insights from the Living Labs, RECHARGE developed a Playbook offering adaptable guidelines for participatory business models. The online Platform, including research outputs and an impact monitor, supports sector-wide knowledge sharing. The RECHARGE Academy further builds capacity by engaging CHI/CHO networks and spreading the project’s methods and results.
Participation is central to CHIs/CHOs, enabling communities—corporate, civic, or institutional—to act as stakeholders. Through nine Living Labs, RECHARGE co-created and tested participatory business models, generating financial, cultural, and social impact, which the consortium documented and analysed.
Long-term impact is driven by the project’s tools and resources. Combining academic research with insights from the Living Labs, RECHARGE developed a Playbook offering adaptable guidelines for participatory business models. The online Platform, including research outputs and an impact monitor, supports sector-wide knowledge sharing. The RECHARGE Academy further builds capacity by engaging CHI/CHO networks and spreading the project’s methods and results.
Project strategies were developed both across the consortium and within each work package. The team first carried out extensive desk research on participatory management and business models in the cultural heritage sector, creating a theoretical framework to guide the project. Core concepts—including LLs, participatory business model creation, and innovative business models—were defined, and a set of KPIs was established to track change throughout the participatory process.
Next, the three main LLs selected business models to develop and ran co-creation workshops with local stakeholders. Their findings informed the first RECHARGE Playbook, which was later used by six additional LLs to test and refine all project tools. Across the nine LLs, results showed cultural, social, and financial value capture, along with increased awareness of the benefits of participatory practice. As their participatory processes matured, LLs achieved stronger financial outcomes and higher participation rates.
Theory and practice were integrated into the RECHARGE Framework—Prepare, Enact, Reflect—supporting iterative participatory work. The project also produced three final models: Participatory Resource Pooling, Ownership, and Platform models. From the KPI work, three key indicators emerged as most meaningful: financial capture, local skill development, and repeat participation.
RECHARGE operated as a local, hands-on initiative, demonstrating the importance of physical spaces as innovation hubs. The project built a diverse network—CHIs/CHOs, corporates, citizens, creative industries, policymakers, and community groups—whose engagement shaped the research, data collection, and co-creation of the RECHARGE Models and CH LLs.
Next, the three main LLs selected business models to develop and ran co-creation workshops with local stakeholders. Their findings informed the first RECHARGE Playbook, which was later used by six additional LLs to test and refine all project tools. Across the nine LLs, results showed cultural, social, and financial value capture, along with increased awareness of the benefits of participatory practice. As their participatory processes matured, LLs achieved stronger financial outcomes and higher participation rates.
Theory and practice were integrated into the RECHARGE Framework—Prepare, Enact, Reflect—supporting iterative participatory work. The project also produced three final models: Participatory Resource Pooling, Ownership, and Platform models. From the KPI work, three key indicators emerged as most meaningful: financial capture, local skill development, and repeat participation.
RECHARGE operated as a local, hands-on initiative, demonstrating the importance of physical spaces as innovation hubs. The project built a diverse network—CHIs/CHOs, corporates, citizens, creative industries, policymakers, and community groups—whose engagement shaped the research, data collection, and co-creation of the RECHARGE Models and CH LLs.
The project advances scientific innovation by establishing nine successful LLs to engage in participatory practices that capture social, cultural, and economic value. Its framework for participatory business models is grounded in state-of-the-art literature on participation and business model innovation in the cultural sector. The adoption of an LL methodology is novel, as no established definition or precedent existed for the heritage field.
Central to RECHARGE is a set of theoretical and practical exercises to identify, test, and evaluate innovations in participatory business models. This included new methods for data collection (a discrete choice experiment), data analysis (an effectiveness synthetic indicator), and data reporting (an interactive KPI monitor). All research outputs were applied in LLs and refined through practitioner feedback.
All LLs succeeded in capturing value through participatory work. Three sites demonstrated both direct and indirect financial value capture, and one LL achieved a notable repeat-participation rate of one return out of every four visits. While long-term continuation depends on local ecosystems, we believe organisations have clearly experienced the benefits of participatory value capture.
A standout achievement was the uptake of RECHARGE materials across the Tuscany region in Italy—an unexpectedly strong demonstration of regional adoption. These results show strong relevance for ecosystems ready to implement innovative stakeholder-engagement approaches.
The project’s scientific output currently includes two publications, with more expected. Equally important are the practical resources produced: the RECHARGE Playbook for CHIs/CHOs and the RECHARGE Policy Recommendations for decision makers, which distil the project’s main insights.
All materials are available on the RECHARGE Platform, the RECHARGE Culture community on Zenodo, and via the Heritage Research Hub.
Central to RECHARGE is a set of theoretical and practical exercises to identify, test, and evaluate innovations in participatory business models. This included new methods for data collection (a discrete choice experiment), data analysis (an effectiveness synthetic indicator), and data reporting (an interactive KPI monitor). All research outputs were applied in LLs and refined through practitioner feedback.
All LLs succeeded in capturing value through participatory work. Three sites demonstrated both direct and indirect financial value capture, and one LL achieved a notable repeat-participation rate of one return out of every four visits. While long-term continuation depends on local ecosystems, we believe organisations have clearly experienced the benefits of participatory value capture.
A standout achievement was the uptake of RECHARGE materials across the Tuscany region in Italy—an unexpectedly strong demonstration of regional adoption. These results show strong relevance for ecosystems ready to implement innovative stakeholder-engagement approaches.
The project’s scientific output currently includes two publications, with more expected. Equally important are the practical resources produced: the RECHARGE Playbook for CHIs/CHOs and the RECHARGE Policy Recommendations for decision makers, which distil the project’s main insights.
All materials are available on the RECHARGE Platform, the RECHARGE Culture community on Zenodo, and via the Heritage Research Hub.