About the Project
What is HAMLET?
HAMLET, Human-centered generative Ai fraMework for culturaL industriEs’ digital Transition is a pioneering initiative that integrates Generative AI into the Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs), enabling professionals to explore new creative possibilities and reimagine digital content. Its main ambition is to democratize access to Generative AI, ensuring that entities of all sizes—artists, designers, game developers, and cultural organizations—can harness the benefits of AI-driven tools for creativity, collaboration, and digital transformation. To achieve this, HAMLET is built on two key pillars:
The HAMLET Collaborative Community Hub – A digital platform designed to make Generative AI accessible to all by fostering collaboration, resource-sharing, and interdisciplinary co-creation across the cultural and creative ecosystem. HAMLET hub aims to serve as a dynamic meeting point where diverse stakeholders can connect, exchange expertise, share resources, and collectively shape AI-driven content – without facing the traditional barriers of high costs or technical complexity. By bridging gaps between sectors, the hub creates a shared innovation space, where stakeholders can jointly co-develop AI-powered solutions, experiment with new creative methodologies, and explore sustainable collaboration models. Through equitable investment and profit-sharing frameworks, HAMLET ensures that the benefits of AI integration are fairly distributed, making advanced digital tools and opportunities accessible to everyone in the creative industries.
A Suite of AI-Powered Enablers – HAMLET introduces seven cutting-edge AI tools, specifically designed to meet the needs of CCIs, streamlining creative workflows and offering new avenues for artistic expression. These enablers support AI-generated 3D asset creation, adaptive storytelling, dance motion analysis, AI-assisted music composition, automated video editing, intelligent curation for cultural archives, and immersive experience generation. Beyond enhancing artistic production, the enablers are designed to seamlessly integrate into creative processes, ensuring that AI becomes an intuitive and accessible tool for all cultural professionals. To make AI adoption effortless and inclusive, these tools prioritize user-friendly design and seamless integration, allowing anyone—regardless of technical expertise—to unlock the potential of AI in their creative work.
By combining technological innovation with a community-driven approach, HAMLET provides both the infrastructure and collaborative ecosystem necessary for a fair and inclusive digital transition in the Cultural and Creative Industries. It lowers the barriers to AI adoption, ensuring that advanced digital tools are accessible to all—from independent artists to large creative enterprises, ensuring that technology enhances, rather than replaces, artistic ingenuity.
HAMLET’s impact will be demonstrated through four pilot cases across Europe, each testing its AI tools in different creative sectors. These pilots will showcase how Generative AI can enhance artistic production, facilitate new forms of collaboration, and empower cultural professionals of all backgrounds.
Key Objectives
HAMLET aims to democratize access to Generative AI and support a fair, inclusive, and sustainable digital transformation within the Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs). The project is structured around the following key objectives:
Expanding Access to Generative AI
Enable artists, designers, game developers, cultural institutions, and creative professionals of all sizes to integrate AI-driven tools into their workflows, regardless of technical expertise or financial resources.
Fostering a Collaborative Digital Ecosystem
Establish the HAMLET Collaborative Community Hub, a dedicated platform for networking, knowledge exchange, and co-creation, encouraging cross-sector collaboration and shared innovation.
Delivering AI-Powered Tools for Creativity
Develop seven advanced AI enablers designed to support 3D asset generation, adaptive storytelling, dance motion analysis, AI-assisted music composition, automated video editing, cultural archive curation, and immersive experience creation. These tools streamline creative processes and introduce new possibilities for artistic expression, while by featuring intuitive interfaces and seamless integration, become easier to adopt, even for those with limited technical experience.
Ensuring Sustainable and Equitable AI Adoption
Promote fair and transparent collaboration models, including shared investment approaches and profit-sharing mechanisms, to support long-term AI integration in CCIs ensuring that AI-driven opportunities benefit the entire creative ecosystem.
Through these objectives, HAMLET supports the European cultural sector’s digital transition, reinforcing its position as a global leader in AI-powered creative innovation.
Key Objectives
HAMLET aims to democratize access to Generative AI and support a fair, inclusive, and sustainable digital transformation within the Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs). The project is structured around the following key objectives:
Expanding Access to Generative AI
Enable artists, designers, game developers, cultural institutions, and creative professionals of all sizes to integrate AI-driven tools into their workflows, regardless of technical expertise or financial resources.
Fostering a Collaborative Digital Ecosystem
Establish the HAMLET Collaborative Community Hub, a dedicated platform for networking, knowledge exchange, and co-creation, encouraging cross-sector collaboration and shared innovation.
Delivering AI-Powered Tools for Creativity
Develop seven advanced AI enablers designed to support 3D asset generation, adaptive storytelling, dance motion analysis, AI-assisted music composition, automated video editing, cultural archive curation, and immersive experience creation. These tools streamline creative processes and introduce new possibilities for artistic expression, while by featuring intuitive interfaces and seamless integration, become easier to adopt, even for those with limited technical experience.
Ensuring Sustainable and Equitable AI Adoption
Promote fair and transparent collaboration models, including shared investment approaches and profit-sharing mechanisms, to support long-term AI integration in CCIs ensuring that AI-driven opportunities benefit the entire creative ecosystem.
Through these objectives, HAMLET supports the European cultural sector’s digital transition, reinforcing its position as a global leader in AI-powered creative innovation.
Key Research Areas
Generative AI as a Creative Partner
HAMLET examines the role of AI as an enabler of artistic expression, focusing on how generative models can be trained, adapted, and refined to support human creativity without compromising artistic intent. The study delves into machine learning methodologies, human-AI co-creation dynamics, and the interpretability of AI-generated content, ensuring that AI remains an assistive rather than an autonomous creative force.
Accessibility and Democratization of AI Technologies
HAMLET focuses on identifying and addressing the barriers that hinder AI adoption in CCIs, particularly for smaller organizations and independent creators. Research efforts will explore user interface design, interoperability standards, and deployment strategies that enhance accessibility, enabling a broad spectrum of cultural professionals to integrate AI into their creative workflows without extensive technical expertise.
Collaborative Innovation and Sustainable Business Models
HAMLET explores new frameworks for AI-driven collaboration in CCIs, examining how AI can facilitate co-investment strategies, shared infrastructure models, and revenue distribution mechanisms that promote long-term economic sustainability. Research will assess how cultural institutions, creative professionals, and technology providers can co-develop AI tools, ensuring that the benefits of AI integration are equitably distributed across the sector.
Ethical AI and the Preservation of Cultural Authenticity
A key research area focuses on the ethical dimensions of AI-generated content, analyzing how AI systems can be designed to respect cultural heritage, prevent biases, and uphold artistic integrity. Studies will assess the impact of generative AI on cultural narratives, artistic ownership, and intellectual property rights, ensuring that AI-generated outputs align with ethical and legal frameworks.
AI-Enhanced Audience Interaction and Immersive Cultural Experiences
HAMLET investigates how AI can transform audience engagement in cultural spaces, studying its application in adaptive storytelling, intelligent content curation, and real-time generative experiences. Research will assess the effectiveness of AI-driven personalization and immersive media technologies in fostering deeper connections between cultural institutions and their audiences.
HAMLET in the EU Digital Strategy
Alignment with the European Collaborative Cloud for Cultural Heritage.
HAMLET is deeply aligned with the European Union’s Digital Strategy, particularly in supporting the digital transition of CCIs. As part of Horizon Europe’s Cluster 2 (Culture, Creativity, and Inclusive Society), HAMLET directly contributes to the EU’s objectives of fostering innovation, inclusivity, and sustainability within the cultural and creative sectors.
Alignment with the European Collaborative Cloud for Cultural Heritage
One of the key initiatives HAMLET integrates with is the European Collaborative Cloud for Cultural Heritage (ECCCH). The ECCCH aims to provide a shared digital infrastructure for cultural heritage institutions, researchers, and creative professionals across Europe. HAMLET complements this initiative by:
- Enhancing digital accessibility: HAMLET’s AI tools and enablers support data enrichment, content creation, and preservation, making cultural heritage more accessible, interactive, and reusable.
- Facilitating cross-sector collaboration: The HAMLET Community Hub will act as a bridge between CCIs and cultural heritage stakeholders, fostering collaboration on restoration, digitization, and interactive experiences.
- Ensuring interoperability: HAMLET follows open standards and APIs, to ensure seamless integration with ECCCH repositories, datasets, and digital workflows.
- Supporting sustainable digital practices: Through energy-efficient AI models and ethical AI principles, HAMLET aligns with the EU’s push for sustainable digital infrastructure within cultural heritage projects.
Supporting Horizon Europe Cluster 2 Goals
Horizon Europe’s Cluster 2 emphasizes the role of culture, creativity, and innovation in shaping a resilient, inclusive, and sustainable European society. HAMLET directly addresses several of its key priorities:
- Fostering Digital Innovation in CCIs
- HAMLET equips creative professionals with AI-driven tools that streamline workflows in content creation, curation, and digital transformation.
- The platform enables cost-effective adoption of AI, ensuring that even small cultural enterprises can benefit from digital advancements.
- Promoting Cultural Sustainability and Heritage Preservation
- By integrating with platforms like Europeana and the ECCCH, HAMLET helps preserve, enrich, and reinterpret cultural heritage in a digital format.
- AI-powered semantic search, metadata enrichment, and automated restoration tools enhance the longevity and accessibility of cultural assets.
- Strengthening Social Cohesion through Digital Culture
- The HAMLET Community Hub will foster collaborative knowledge-sharing and co-creation, allowing CCIs across Europe to build stronger connections.
- By lowering technical barriers, HAMLET ensures that diverse communities, from artists to researchers to educators, can fully participate in the digital ecosystem.
- Ethical and Inclusive Digital Transformation
- HAMLET integrates ethical AI principles, addressing concerns around copyright, fair compensation, and cultural authenticity.
- The platform prioritizes human-centered AI, ensuring that digital tools enhance, rather than replace, human creativity.
HAMLET in the EU Digital Strategy
Alignment with the European Collaborative Cloud for Cultural Heritage.
HAMLET is deeply aligned with the European Union’s Digital Strategy, particularly in supporting the digital transition of CCIs. As part of Horizon Europe’s Cluster 2 (Culture, Creativity, and Inclusive Society), HAMLET directly contributes to the EU’s objectives of fostering innovation, inclusivity, and sustainability within the cultural and creative sectors.
Alignment with the European Collaborative Cloud for Cultural Heritage
One of the key initiatives HAMLET integrates with is the European Collaborative Cloud for Cultural Heritage (ECCCH). The ECCCH aims to provide a shared digital infrastructure for cultural heritage institutions, researchers, and creative professionals across Europe. HAMLET complements this initiative by:
1. Enhancing digital accessibility: HAMLET’s AI tools and enablers support data enrichment, content creation, and preservation, making cultural heritage more accessible, interactive, and reusable.
2. Facilitating cross-sector collaboration: The HAMLET Community Hub will act as a bridge between CCIs and cultural heritage stakeholders, fostering collaboration on restoration, digitization, and interactive experiences.
3. Ensuring interoperability: HAMLET follows open standards and APIs, to ensure seamless integration with ECCCH repositories, datasets, and digital workflows.
4. Supporting sustainable digital practices: Through energy-efficient AI models and ethical AI principles, HAMLET aligns with the EU’s push for sustainable digital infrastructure within cultural heritage projects.
Supporting Horizon Europe Cluster 2 Goals
Horizon Europe’s Cluster 2 emphasizes the role of culture, creativity, and innovation in shaping a resilient, inclusive, and sustainable European society. HAMLET directly addresses several of its key priorities:
1. Fostering Digital Innovation in CCIs
– HAMLET equips creative professionals with AI-driven tools that streamline workflows in content creation, curation, and digital transformation.
– The platform enables cost-effective adoption of AI, ensuring that even small cultural enterprises can benefit from digital advancements.
2. Promoting Cultural Sustainability and Heritage Preservation
– By integrating with platforms like Europeana and the ECCCH, HAMLET helps preserve, enrich, and reinterpret cultural heritage in a digital format.
– AI-powered semantic search, metadata enrichment, and automated restoration tools enhance the longevity and accessibility of cultural assets.
3. Strengthening Social Cohesion through Digital Culture
– The HAMLET Community Hub will foster collaborative knowledge-sharing and co-creation, allowing CCIs across Europe to build stronger connections.
– By lowering technical barriers, HAMLET ensures that diverse communities, from artists to researchers to educators, can fully participate in the digital ecosystem.
4. Ethical and Inclusive Digital Transformation
– HAMLET integrates ethical AI principles, addressing concerns around copyright, fair compensation, and cultural authenticity.
– The platform prioritizes human-centered AI, ensuring that digital tools enhance, rather than replace, human creativity.
In collaboration with
Funding & EU affiliation
HAMLET is funded under the Horizon Europe Program, specifically within Cluster 2: Culture, Creativity, and Inclusive Society. As part of the EU’s flagship research and innovation framework, HAMLET receives funding to advance digital transformation in CCIs while fostering innovation, inclusivity, and sustainability.
This initiative is supported by the European Commission and aligns with key EU digital policies, including the European Collaborative Cloud for Cultural Heritage (ECCCH) and the Digital Decade Strategy, ensuring that Europe’s cultural heritage and creative sectors thrive in an increasingly digital world.
HAMLET is a collaborative effort, bringing together a diverse consortium of leading research institutions, technology providers, cultural organizations, and creative industry stakeholders from across Europe. This interdisciplinary partnership ensures that the project benefits from cutting-edge AI research, ethical considerations, and real-world applications tailored to the needs of CCIs.
Funded by the European Union [GA 101178362]. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Research Executive Agency (REA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
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