AI for 3D Digital Twins in Cultural Heritage

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23. 3. 2026 - 23. 3. 2026

The "AI for 3D Digital Twins in Cultural Heritage Stakeholder Forum" is an event organised in the framework of the ApplyAI Strategy by the European Commission (DG CONNECT) and the Online Competence Centre in 3D for Cultural Heritage, supporting the uptake and scaling of AI technologies to create high-quality 3D digital twins of cultural sites and artefacts. It features presentations of European projects and initiatives, including EU-, national- or regional-funded ones.

 

Programme

 

10:30 – 10:40 | Opening Session

 

Advancing AI for 3D Digital Twins in Cultural Heritage

 

Speakers:

  • Rehana Schwinninger Ladak, Head of Unit, DG CNECT Unit G2 – Interactive Technologies, Digital for Culture and Education

  • Marco Medici, 3D-4CH Project Coordinator/Online Competence Centre in 3D for Cultural Heritage

 

The opening session will frame the event within the ApplyAI Strategy and the action supporting the uptake and scaling of AI technologies for highly realistic and accurate 3D digital twins of cultural sites and artefacts. The Commission will outline policy priorities and expected impact, followed by a positioning of the Online Competence Centre in 3D for Cultural Heritage within this strategic framework.

 

10:40 – 11:20 | Session 1

 

AI for scaling up 3D digitisation & enhancement

 

This sessions discusses AI techniques that can be/are used to accelerate or improve 3D capture workflows, enhance legacy models, or scale digitisation pipelines, followed by a collective Q&A.

 

Presentations:

  • Best practices in 3D mass digitisation of museum objects (Fabio Remondino, 3DOM - 3D Optical Metrology unit, Bruno Kessler Foundation)
  • AI 3D Builder: the Accessible Pipeline for 3D Reconstruction for CHI (Marco Falciglia, Software Engineering Italia - Swing:It)
  • Adapting SAM3D-Objects for geospatial 3D building reconstruction from satellite imagery  (Vaibhav Rajan, Humanities Department, Friedrich Schiller University Jena)

 

11:20 – 12:00 | Session 2

 

AI for semantic enrichment & segmentation

 

This sessions discusses AI methods that can be/are used to automate segmentation, metadata extraction, and semantic labelling of 3D models, followed by a collective Q&A. 

 

Presentations:

  • 3D Gaussian splat semantic segmentation of historical quarters for better scene understanding (Arnadi Murtiyoso, INSA Strasbourg)
  • Semantic and Geometric Datasets Creation for Monument Analysis: A Framework for Expert-Guided Annotation and AI Models (Kévin Réby, Modèles et simulations pour l'Architecture et le Patrimoine, MAP UPR CNRS 2002)
  • AI-assisted tools for cultural heritage data (Andraž Repar, Jozef Stefan Institute)
  • A Roman carved tale modelled in 3D and interpreted with AI  (Marco Medici, INCEPTION s.r.l., Spin-off of the University of Ferrara)

 

12:00 – 12:10

 

Short Break

 

12:10 – 12:50 | Session 3

 

AI for data visualisation, interpretation, narrative creation and reuse

 

This sessions explores AI approaches that can be/are used to analyse, classify, visualise, or interpret cultural heritage data and scenes, supporting decision-making processes, enabling re-use and the creation of new narratives and contextual understandings, followed by a collective Q&A.

 

Presentations: 

  • AI-assisted interpretation and narrative reuse for cultural heritage digital twins (Alexandru Stan, IN2 Digital Innovation)
  • AI-Driven Digital Twins for Cultural Heritage: Integrating Monitoring, Predictive Modelling and Computer Vision in Historic Masonry (Hugo Rodrigues, CERIS - Department of Civil Engineering, University of Aveiro)
  • From images to damage maps in historic masonry: an AI-based damage localisation pipeline (Zhiya Yang, Geomatics Research Group, KU Leuven)

 

12:50 – 13:00 | Closing Remarks

 

Building the Next Wave of AI-driven 3D Digital Twins

 

Speakers:

  • Rehana Schwinninger Ladak, Head of Unit, DG CNECT Unit G2 – Interactive Technologies, Digital for Culture and Education

  • Marco Medici, Project Coordinator, 3D-4CH Project Coordinator/Online Competence Centre in 3D for Cultural Heritage

 

Joint reflections on coordination across projects, ecosystem building, and pathways toward scaling AI-enabled 3D digital twins across Europe’s cultural heritage sector will wrap up the event.

 

Register Here

 

Please note: The link for joining the event will be sent to registered participants in the next days.

 

Image credits: CC-By-NC Heidentor part of the TwinIt! Campaign.



Location: Date: 23 March 2026, 10:30–13:00 CET, Online