RADICI: an Advanced Design Approach for Prototyping Trans-sectoral Ecosystems in Digital Cultural Heritage

As the cultural heritage sector intertwines with the computing industry and expands into the creative sector, this paper disseminates preliminary findings of an applied industrial research project to contribute to ongoing discussions on key challenges in Digital Cultural Heritage and outline potential future directions. RADICI is a two-year ERDF-funded project aiming to develop an aggregating platform of digital cultural assets from diverse cultural and creative industry sectors, ensuring their interoperability to unlock new value co-creation. Stemming from a design-driven approach, RADICI contributes to regional development by prototyping trans-sectoral value chains in accessing, co-producing, experiencing, and leveraging Digital Cultural Heritage. Central to this effort is the strategic role of GLAMs as boundary objects connecting institutional knowledge with creative entrepreneurship, enabling cross- pollination of skills and visions. Living heritage is considered a dynamic knowledge infrastructure, where activating traditional know-how through digital tools empowers reinterpretation and innovation across sectors. The project explores Advanced Design methods to support long-term, cross-sectoral engagement beyond its operational boundaries. This paper presents RADICI’s theoretical framework, rooted in a rhizomatic interplay of perspectives, and illustrates how trans-sectoral conversations were designed to fuel co- creation sessions among stakeholders from academia, business, GLAMs, and CCSIs. Data from participant observations, workshops, and feedback were thematically analyzed to generate actionable insights for further rhizomatic development.