On July 17th, at the Futuridea headquarters in Contrada Piano Cappelle, Benevento, the launch event for the high-profile project “CROMO – CROwdsourced MOnitoring of distributed Cultural Resources”, was held, an innovative initiative that combines technology and cultural heritage.
The project, funded by the Ministry of University and Research (MUR) under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) and coordinated by CeRICT (through its partner, the University of Salerno), involved two innovative companies, CityOpenSource and QuantumNet. It is dedicated to developing innovative tools for participatory monitoring of distributed cultural heritage. The initiative aims to enhance widespread cultural assets through the use of digital technologies.
CROMO is a participatory platform that enables citizens, tourists, and stakeholders to contribute to the monitoring and enhancement of cultural heritage sites along the Campania section of the Appian Way. The system can collect geolocated reports—such as photographs, descriptions, and data—integrate them, and return the information in a structured format to support decision-making by local authorities.
Through research, industrial development, and experimentation activities, the project integrates key enabling technologies (KETs) and gamification tools to encourage active citizen participation. Users can geolocate images of cultural heritage sites, which are analyzed using artificial intelligence tools for distributed heritage monitoring and to propose targeted interventions. Augmented reality technologies applied to the mapped assets offer an enriching experience, expanding participants’ knowledge. Additionally, a token-based reward system will allow users to accumulate CROMO-points, promoting ongoing and rewarding engagement.
Following the institutional greetings by Francesco Nardone (Futuridea) and the Culture Councillor of the Municipality of Benevento, Prof. Antonella Tartaglia Polcini, Prof. Vittorio Scarano from the University of Salerno presented the goals and objectives of the project.
he morning continued with two round tables. The first, coordinated by Prof. Alfonso Santoriello (University of Salerno), focused on the theme “La via Appia tra Benevento e Mirabella Eclano; fragilità e opportunità di sviluppo” and featured experts from the academic and institutional sectors.
The second round table, coordinated by Prof. Vittorio Scarano, explored the technical and practical aspects of the “CROMO Project: Participatory Monitoring,” with contributions from representatives of the involved innovative startups and university researchers.
The event concluded with the presentation of the project’s next steps, outlining future activities and field trials in the region.
QuantumNet, one of the project partners, was responsible for the AI component focused on image analysis, automatic classification, and monitoring of temporal evolution:
- Key technologies: Generative AI and advanced Machine Learning to identify, cluster, and analyze images.
- Innovative approach: Use of an open-source LLM (Large Language Model) to generate descriptive content on the temporal evolution of images.