Why a workshop in Matera? In the run-up to the 2019 European Capital of Culture
Matera ― one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, and the cultural heart of the Basilicata region ― is an ideal location for hosting the Space4Culture conference, as both the city and the surrounding region have been building synergies between culture, digital and space technologies. Matera is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (1993) and will be the European Capital of Culture (ECoC) in 2019.
Moreover, both the cultural and creative sectors, as well as the aerospace sector are included among the five innovation priority areas of Basilicata’s Smart Specialisation Strategy for the period 2014-2020. The dimension of space has been also included in Matera’s bid to the ECoC title since the beginning, reflecting the importance of the sector in the region’s economy and history.
Founding member of the Network of European Regions Using Space Technologies (NEREUS), the Basilicata Region has positioned itself as a hub for space research and development at the global level thanks to the activities related to the world-known “Giuseppe Colombo” Centre for Space Geodesy of the Italian Space Agency (ASI), and in the EU via its space cluster TeRN Consortium (Copernicus Relay and Academy) and the University of Basilicata (Copernicus Academy). Moreover, Matera has been selected as one of the five Italian cities conducting tests for a 5G mobile network and decided to use connectivity to send 3D images of architectural sites and museums to visitors during its 2019 tenure as ECoC.
