CULTURATI Completes AI Platform for Personalised Cultural Heritage Experiences

CULTURATI, an EU-funded research project coordinated by Bilkent University, has completed a three-year programme to build and validate an AI-enabled platform for cultural heritage visitors. The platform delivers personalised games and routes at five European pilot locations, combining centralised content with technologies including artificial intelligence, IoT and cloud or cloud-like infrastructure.

The project completed its research, development and validation cycle on 31 January 2026. Its final international event, held at Blenheim Palace on 30 January, presented Prototype 3 results that included real-time positioning and AI-enhanced adaptive content. The milestone gives cultural organisations a documented example of how digital systems can tailor site interpretation while retaining local participation in the creation of heritage material.

According to the official CULTURATI platform documentation, the service is web and mobile accessible. It is designed to distribute content from a central platform to visitors through customised experiences, rather than delivering the same fixed route or narrative to every guest.

How CULTURATI adapts heritage visits

CULTURATI's core proposition is a locative, game-based experience that connects a visitor's location with relevant cultural content. AI, mobile technologies and IoT support the platform's ability to tailor experiences and help with visitor-flow management. European Commission CORDIS coverage also describes the project as an AI-driven, locative-game platform deployed across multiple sites.

The documented platform model brings together several connected elements:

• Personalised games and routes that deliver cultural content to end users.
• A central content platform for distributing material across participating locations.
• Real-time positioning and adaptive content, demonstrated as part of Prototype 3 at Blenheim Palace.
• AI, IoT and cloud or cloud-like infrastructure used to support tailored experiences and visitor-flow management.
• Multilingual content delivery shaped with input from local creators and cultural professionals.

That combination matters because heritage sites often need to serve visitors with different languages, interests and levels of familiarity. A single interpretive path can be useful, but it cannot necessarily provide the same relevance as a route or activity adapted to an individual's visit. CULTURATI's approach is designed around that distinction.

Co-creation is central to the content model

The technology is not presented as a replacement for curators, local historians or cultural professionals. CULTURATI emphasises co-creation with local content creators and heritage practitioners to support the accuracy and relevance of what visitors receive. This is especially important in cultural heritage, where a technically sophisticated interface is only as useful as the context and interpretation it communicates.

The same approach supports the platform's multilingual and multi-language ambitions. Local participation can help organisations adapt material for specific places and audiences, rather than treating translation as the sole requirement for accessibility.

The available project material identifies a governance principle around content quality, local relevance and multilingual delivery. It does not, however, provide enough detail to assess specific policies for visitor data, privacy, algorithmic accountability or long-term operating governance. Cultural organisations considering comparable systems would need to establish those arrangements alongside content governance and technical planning.

Five pilots, with potential expansion beyond them

CULTURATI validated its approach across five cited pilot sites in Europe:

• Porvoo, Finland
• Ascoli Satriano, Italy
• Rahmi M. Koç Museum in Istanbul, Türkiye
• Ankara Citadel in Ankara, Türkiye
• Blenheim Palace in the United Kingdom

This multi-site design is significant because it tests the platform across different types of cultural setting, from museums to historic urban and palace environments. It also demonstrates that the project was intended as more than a single-location digital guide.

CULTURATI has indicated that further locations could join, including Deliceto in Italy, Gordion in Türkiye, and Agaete and La Aldea in Gran Canaria. Those locations signal an expansion path beyond the initial five pilots, but the supplied material does not establish their current deployment status or a timetable for rollout.

For museums and heritage operators, the project's completion does not mean that every site now has a ready-made answer to digital transformation. It does show a completed, publicly documented model in which technical personalisation is paired with local expertise. The practical challenge is to determine whether an organisation has the content, operational capacity and governance processes needed to apply such a model responsibly.

For organisations planning AI-enabled visitor services, visibility in AI-driven discovery and a sound implementation strategy increasingly belong in the same conversation. Scalevise's AI consultancy services can help teams assess where personalised AI experiences fit their customer journey, content governance and operating model, then define a practical path from concept to deployment. The value is not simply adding AI, but aligning technology with trusted information and measurable visitor outcomes. Request an AI consultation.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CULTURATI?

CULTURATI is an EU-funded project coordinated by Bilkent University that developed an AI-enabled, web and mobile accessible platform for personalised cultural heritage experiences.

How does the CULTURATI platform personalise a visit?

The platform distributes content through customised games and routes. Its documented technology mix includes AI, IoT, mobile technologies and cloud or cloud-like infrastructure, with Prototype 3 demonstrating real-time positioning and AI-enhanced adaptive content.

Which sites were part of the CULTURATI pilot programme?

The five cited pilots were Porvoo in Finland, Ascoli Satriano in Italy, Rahmi M. Koç Museum in Istanbul, Ankara Citadel in Ankara, and Blenheim Palace in the United Kingdom.

Did CULTURATI address cultural content governance?

The project emphasises co-creation with local content creators and cultural professionals to support accurate, relevant and multilingual content. The supplied material does not provide sufficient detail to assess specific privacy, data governance or algorithmic accountability policies.

Conclusion

CULTURATI has completed a documented European validation of AI-supported cultural heritage experiences across five pilot sites. Its most important contribution is a model that combines personalised digital routes and games with centrally managed, locally co-created content. The project also highlights a key condition for wider adoption: meaningful visitor personalisation depends on cultural expertise and governance, not technology alone.