QuantumNet presents “CROMO”: the heritage-gaming and AI platform supporting cultural heritage preservation

QuantumNet is proud to announce the presentation of its research project CROMO during the study days “Layers of Knowledge. Space, Time, and Meaning”, promoted by Fondazione CHANGES and held on 1–2 December 2025 at the Museo Archeologico Nazionale “Mario Torelli” in Venosa, as part of Spoke 8.

The event marks the conclusion of a three-year research cycle focused on integrating digital technologies, interdisciplinary methodologies and participatory approaches for the protection, conservation and enhancement of tangible cultural heritage.

CROMO: when gamification meets cultural heritage conservation

At the heart of QuantumNet’s initiative lies the CROMO project: a digital “heritage-gaming” platform that invites citizens, visitors and cultural enthusiasts to photograph heritage assets along designated routes, transforming cultural exploration into an active and participatory experience.

Through a mobile app, users take photos of cultural heritage sites along the route.
Each photo generates a score: once specific thresholds are reached, users receive discounts or benefits redeemable in local venues, restaurants, museums and partner institutions.
The collected images feed a visual database used by QuantumNet’s AI platform to analyse—over time—the conservation state of heritage assets by comparing multiple, successive photographs.

In this way, CROMO combines social engagement, territorial enhancement and scientific monitoring: users actively contribute to heritage surveillance, while institutions and asset managers receive valuable data for conservation, maintenance and planning.

From the pilot case to future extensions

CROMO has been tested on a pilot route along the Via Appia, specifically the section between Benevento and Mirabella Eclano. This stretch, rich in historical and archaeological evidence, offered an ideal setting to test the platform, user interaction and the system’s ability to collect useful conservation data.

Thanks to its modular and flexible design, the model is fully replicable across other cultural routes, archaeological areas, historic centres or thematic itineraries, with strong potential for large-scale adoption.

Why CROMO addresses today’s heritage preservation challenges

The initiative aligns perfectly with the objectives of Spoke 8 of Fondazione CHANGES, which focuses on sustainability and resilience of tangible heritage through digital infrastructures, georeferencing, data integration and collaboration among institutions, researchers and communities.

CROMO embodies these goals by offering:

a bottom-up, participatory approach: involving citizens makes heritage preservation a shared process;
an innovative data collection model: through mobile apps and AI, it enables continuous, distributed monitoring;
a form of cultural and economic enhancement: rewards and discounts encourage participation, boosting tourism and cultural consumption;
territorial scalability, paving the way for new models of “citizen heritage management” at regional and national levels.

QuantumNet and the future of digital culture

With CROMO, QuantumNet reaffirms its commitment to developing advanced technological solutions for cultural heritage, combining mobile experience, AI and participatory models. The presentation at “Layers of Knowledge” marks the first public step in a journey aimed at reshaping the relationship between citizens, institutions and cultural assets.

At a time when heritage preservation requires new paradigms—flexible, sustainable and inclusive—CROMO stands as a bridge between technology and memory, between conscious exploration and responsible conservation.

QuantumNet is ready to extend this model beyond the Via Appia, fostering collaborations with institutions, local authorities and communities interested in experimenting with a new way of experiencing and preserving cultural heritage.

https://www.fondazionechanges.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/CHANGES_Programma_SPOKE-8.pdf