Creative Minds • Data-Driven Futures

On a mission to bridge the gap between creativity and digital innovation

Data Conversations is a collaborative initiative that empowers the Cultural and Creative Industries (CCI) sector to thrive in a rapidly evolving digital landscape. We bring together cultural organisations, universities, creative professionals, and sector networks across Europe to transform how impact, data, and technology are integrated into cultural practice.

Our mission

Our mission is to bridge the gap between creativity and digital innovation. Through tools like DIDACT—our AI-powered impact design platform—and through creative data collection methods, artistic residencies, and tailored training, we equip cultural professionals with the skills and insights they need to drive meaningful change.

We believe that by making data more accessible, creative, and human-centered, CCIs can not only better engage audiences and enhance sustainability, but also lead the way in the responsible use of AI and digital technologies.

Data Conversations is about building capacity, sparking dialogue, and shaping a more impactful, inclusive, and digitally confident cultural sector.

Meet the team

Driven by an all-star project team.

Data Conversation is a collaborative initiative of organisations from Italy, Spain, Estonia, Sweden, Germany, The Netherlands and associated partners in Belgium and Danemark.

The project brings together experts from both academic and practical fields, working across different sectors. It builds on previous tools and resources, including:

The Impact Canvas
developed by Me-Mind under Creative Europe,
The MOI! self-reflection resources,
tested by over 1.000 museum professionals across Europe,
The Europeana Impact Playbook,
widely used and available online.

Using this experience, we will develop DiDaCT (Digital Data Conversations Tool) — a web-based app that helps cultural and creative industries (CCIs) think about and discuss their impact and use of data. It will support users in aligning their goals with audience needs, planning their activities more effectively, and considering impact and data collection from the beginning.

DiDaCT will be easy to use, combining good user interface design with artificial intelligence. It will guide users through a self-assessment process and provide smart feedback, based on findings from many EU project reports. We will use an iterative design approach, learning from how users interact with the tool, to improve its usefulness and to develop training and communication materials.

The project partners

  • FONDAZIONE SISTEMA TOSCANA
    Fondazione Sistema Toscana (FST) organises temporary cultural events, placing a strong emphasis on high-performance execution. One of its focal activities is the Internet Festival (IF) in Pisa, an annual event that delves into societal challenges, political dynamics, and the intersection of culture with digital technologies. FST will make the InternetFestival (IF) available for testing Data Conversations strategies and tools. Based on its experience to organise events for different targets, FST will collaborate on needs collection activities and platform testing. IF will become the venue and environment to carry out the artistic residency, and it will be one of the testing and evaluation contexts for both the effectiveness of info-experiences and the methodology provided by the project. Moreover, FST will coordinate the project and the communication and dissemination actions, leveraging its years of experience in this field.
  • UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI FIRENZE
    University of Firenze (UniFi) is an important and influential centre for research and higher training in Italy. It is one of the largest and most productive public research systems in Italy, thanks to the number of permanent and temporary researchers working in a wide range of disciplinary and scientific fields. UniFi intensively participates in research programmes of national and international relevance with significant scientific results. UniFi brings to the consortium the expertise in management engineering and in digitalization, innovation management and data analysis. UniFi is experienced in environmental sustainable management and supports the consortium in implementing environmentally responsible practices. Moreover, it has a strong expertise in designing and implementing workshops, seminars and lectures and to carry out and disseminate research activities during conferences, speeches, and scientific articles writing.
  • BYFACILITY SL
    Domestic Data Streamers (DDS) is a creative agency specialising in impactful communication campaigns that integrate digital and analog elements based on data. They've successfully executed GEN-AI system integrations in cultural institutions, emphasising both Big Data and Thick Data. In the DiDaCT project, DDS plays a crucial role in GEN-AI tool research and integration, bringing artistic and empathetic insights. Their unique blend of technical proficiency and creative insight positions them as leaders in enhancing the human experience of data and technology interaction within cultural settings. DDS will also support the management of artistic residency and provide inspiration and training for prototyping and implementing info-experiences.
  • EESTI RAHVA MUUSEUM
    The Estonian National Museum (ERM) is a museum, engaging constant relationships with the stakeholders, visitors, audiences, and public. ERM is the largest museum in Estonia and it focuses on Estonian and Finno-Ugric cultures. The museum is working with online and onsite activities, such as exhibitions, programmes, educational activities, participatory projects, campaigns etc, which are designed for a large variety of audiences. ERM is a leading research institution of museology by developing an approach of merging tools and theoretical frameworks from three academic disciplines: media and communication, cultural and new museum studies. Past impact and data related projects (MOI and Me-Mind) have empowered ERM as a site for experimentation and research about impact. As an accredited research institution, ERM participates in the needs analysis phase and tests of the DiDaCT tool, and produces guidelines to other CCIs. Through membership with the ICOM INTERCOM network, ERM will disseminate the project’s results throughout this global network.
  • MALMO UNIVERSITET
    Malmö University (MAU) is a new University, focused on teaching and research that is highly socially relevant. The University is characterised by global engagement, community involvement, and a multidisciplinary, challenge-based approach to education, research, and collaboration. MAU is especially committed to working with social innovation, sustainability and collaboration with external stakeholders. The research engagement ensures that the methods and approaches used and developed within the project are scientifically relevant and validated through the scholarly discussions, and the training efforts utilise sound educational approaches. Expertise relating to cultural and creative industries, creative methods, artistic research and digitalisation and data practices will complement the consortium. MAU hosts the Forum for Social Innovation Sweden (MSI), MAU working at the border of research and development. The DiDaCT uses the MSI resources and innovation experiences for dissemination and sustainability.
  • IN2 DIGITAL INNOVATIONS GMBH
    IN2 Digital Innovations GmbH (IN2) has the mission to enable content and data value chains, providing software solutions that simplify how businesses and people collect, organise, discover and present digital content and data. The company covers the whole spectrum of application development and provisioning from human-centred-design, user interaction, software development and deployment from our own private cloud (DevOps). The core technology consists of an in-house AI-based content indexing, analysis, automatic annotation, management and publishing platform for all types of media (photos, videos, documents, audio files), on top of which we build customised solutions for vertical markets. IN2 has a strong experience in R&D&I activities and knowledge-transfer to the market working closely with top universities and has participated in over 20 collaborative EC projects. IN2 will be the main technology partner in charge of the development of the DiDaCT tools, working closely with MAU and UniFi to develop innovative solutions for data collection.
  • STICHTING EUROPEANA
    The Europeana Foundation (EF) is an independent, non-profit organisation and it is at the heart of the common European data space for cultural heritage. Supported by the EU’s Digital Europe Programme (DIGITAL), it’s dedicated to accelerating the digital transformation of the cultural heritage sector and fostering the reuse of digitised cultural heritage in various fields such as education, research and tech. Through the work developed in the Europeana Impact Framework with the Europeana Impact Playbook at its core and the support of the Europeana Impact Community, EF supports cultural heritage professionals to develop and refine their practice of impact assessment and awareness. EF contributes to activities relating to the sustainable implementation of the project and participates in the needs analysis, testing and validation of the DiDaCT tool, and contributes to the recommendations for the implementation for a data- and impact-driven approach, embedding the results into the Europeana Impact Playbook. Finally, EF will support the project’s training, dissemination and communication planning activities, engaging the Europeana Impact Community through training and testing, running of events and establishing connections with other programmes and initiatives such as the Europeana Impact Café and the Europeana Impact Community.

Get in touch

We’d love to hear from you! Whether you’re a cultural organisation, creative professional, policymaker, or just curious about the project, reach out to us for more information, collaboration opportunities, or media inquiries.

Email
info@dataconversations.eu
Project Lead
Project Lead: Fondazione Sistema Toscana (FST)
Address
Europe-wide initiative with a central coordination office in:
Via Duca D'Aosta 9
50129 Firenze • Italy