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8 December 2025 - Reading time: 2 minutes

SAFEGUARD-DH: Responsible Digitalization and Ethical Governance for AI Futures in Digital Heritage empowers heritage institutions to become ethical stewards in an era of rapid digital transformation. While artificial intelligence (AI) increasingly influences how archives, libraries, museums and other cultural collections are digitized, accessed, and reused by researchers, practitioners, and the public, the ethical, legal, and societal implications of these technologies remain underexplored in the academic and heritage sectors. This project addresses the growing need for responsible governance and public trust in AI usage by implementing a strategy for Open and Responsible Research and Innovation (ORRI) within cultural institutions. 

Objectives:

1. Develop and implement an internal ORRI strategy for responsible digitalization
2. Establish structured mechanisms for stakeholder and citizen engagement in digital heritage governance
3. Create institutional tool and indicators to monitor and evaluate ORRI performance in digital practices
4. Facilitate anticipatory governance through AI foresight and scenario-building roundtables

This project has received funding as the subgrant of the Reinforcing project, from the European Research Executive Agency (REA), under grant agreement number 101094435.