In periods of economic instability, national considerations are overruling the process of European integration. Cultural Heritage (CH) is an integral element of a European set of values and respect for heritage is vital for developing a common European identity. The CH sector has always been facing a number of challenges that have increased with the financial crisis that has hit Europe. Amongst others, these challenges include the decrease of public budgets, urbanisation, globalisation and technological changes. Within this context, CH professionals are seeking to improve currently used methodologies, in order to better understand, protect and valorise the common European past and common identity.
ATHENA project seeks to improve and expand the capabilities of collaboration between low performing and leading institutions, involving professionals dealing with remote sensing technologies for supporting CH sector, as well as experts in the field of remote sensing applications for archaeological and cultural heritage issues. The integration of RS data with other information related with traditional archaeological research, historic socio-economic data and landscape information can be performed in geographical information systems, targeting for Cultural Heritage preservation and consists one of the innovation aspects of ATHENA project.
ATHENA is further exploiting the current capabilities of Cyprus University of Technology (CUT), both in terms of capacity as well of equipment, performing advance research and support to the CH sector. CUT aims to be in close collaboration with both national and international research institutes and stakeholders, providing integrated remote sensing services and solutions beyond Cyprus, in the Eastern Mediterranean. For this reason, two leading institutions of Europe namely the National Research Council (CNR) and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) will assist in this direction.
The project focuses on the knowledge related to cultural heritage implementing actions based on multidisciplinary collaborations and closes the gap between cross-disciplinary research and exploitation methods through different scientific domains such as history, archaeology, architecture, urban design, sociology, anthropology, engineering, and computer sciences using remote sensing technologies. Innovation in the ATHENA project directly and indirectly benefits the project consortium as well as associated stakeholders. The combination of innovative methodologies to enhance the understanding of European CH by means of remote sensing techniques will bring new knowledge and collaboration across disciplines, while the innovative procedures and applications will enable remote communication and collaboration across the industry, professionals, experts, researchers and academia.
