PIN is a research and educational public body organized as a consortium formed by the University of Florence and local institutions. The activities run by PIN include educational services as well as research. The latter is performed by internal laboratories, including the Heritage Lab VAST-LAB, and others involved in technology, applied economics and finance. PIN is a Training Agency and a Research Centre accredited nationally as such by the competent Ministry. VAST-LAB has a long-standing expertise in EU funded research and has been involved in several EU projects thanks to the interdisciplinary competences of its staff, which is composed of archaeologists, Cultural Heritage and ICT experts. VAST-LAB has a strong experience in liaising with local authorities and boast of fruitful collaborations with the network of museums of Tuscany (Musei di Maremma) and with AMAT, the Association of Museums and archaeological site of Tuscany.
PIN is the lead partner of PARTHENOS, and is or has been involved in the following projects
- coordinator of ARIADNE, a FP7-INFRASTRUCTURES project on the integration of archaeological research data infrastructures;
- coordinator of CREATIVE CH, a FP7-SiS project on the development of new ways of communicating and promoting CH though ICT;
- core partner and WP leader in 3D-COFORM, a FP7 IP project on 3D tools for archaeological collections;
- coordinator of CHIRON, a Marie Curie early stage research project on digital cultural heritage;
- core partner of EPOCH, a FP6 NoE on IT applications to Cultural Heritage.
Besides coordination, in these projects PIN’s contribution mainly concerned the development of ICT applications for cultural heritage, the definition of cultural semantics and their application for documentation, analysis of stakeholders’ needs and definition of CH community requirements for 3D digital objects and for integrated infrastructure, organization of summer schools and individual visits to train researchers in the development and application of ICT to CH and in the development and management of digital repositories. Through VAST-LAB, PIN has hosted international conferences on ICT applications to CH and archaeology CAA2004 and VAST 2011, and a number of international and national symposia.