In the past few weeks we have anticipated great news for WaVE: 2 Pilot Actions have been approved by the Interreg Europe Monitoring Committee.
>> Want to know more about Pilot Actions? Read the article!
>> Read the interview to Péter Nagy, Director of the Ister-Granum EGTC
We present the second Pilot Action through an interview with Maria Grazia Marini, Director of the Tourism Service of the Municipality of Ravenna.
1) What is your Pilot's focus? Which element are you going to test?
The pilot action is dedicated to testing a 3D digital tool conceived to support an effective water-linked storytelling to be made available for tourist as well as educational, scientific and entrepreneurial purposes.
The integration of drone mapping and 3D rendering applied to Classis Museum, in case it proves successful, will provide an innovative solution for creating an innovative digital experience to boost the attractiveness of any EU territory, and particularly suitable for territories characterised by a mix of land and water.
Potential tourists, citizens, city planners, entrepreneurs, stakeholders, students could live an enriching experience "from everywhere" (even from the opposite side of the world) that would allow them to receive information, emotions, data and stimuli that could generate possible "positive consequences" in terms of behavior and decisions: from organizing a future holiday, to deciding where to open a new business.
The digital tool is enriched by an innovative approach to water-linked heritage and to community engagement by digital means: integrated storytelling of Ravenna’s 3 WaVE sites, to enhance the perception of the value of water linked heritage and provide a resource contributing to immersive and interactive experiences both on site and remotely. 
2) Who will be the main beneficiaries of the pilot action?
The main beneficiaries of the pilot action will be visitors and tourists of the town, as well as teachers and students but also citizen and local stakeholders and of course the Municipality.
Visitors and tourists will be offered virtual tours and experience of the town whenever travelling is not possible, but also a useful tool to plan their site visits in “normal” times. Teachers, researchers and students will plan their visits or simply use the tool as a learning device. Citizens will be able to interact and tell their water-linked stories but also become aware of the water-linked red thread that runs through town. The Municipality will manage to support active marketing (e.g. fairs) and promotion on platforms/websites and to create place branding that might encourage private investors in investing in the water-linked heritage sites, thus contributing to the site redevelopment. The Municipality will also use it for digital conservation and maintenance planning.
3) How is the pilot action linked to the exchange of experience process? How does it relate to good practices learnt from other project partners and local stakeholder groups?
The pilot action is inspired to individual or multiple actions taken from the Good Practices exchanged with WaVE’s Partners during the knowledge exchange sessions and connected bilateral meetings. The source of inspirations were the following:
- Alicante “Blue routes”
- Breda "(re)development in dialogue"
- Breda “Brabant remembers”
- Ister-Granum’s “Bridge Guard”
- Aarhus’ “The uncovering of the river Aarhus”
From all the above listed good practices we took some elements that we will transfer in our pilot project. In addition we also take inspiration from a couple of good practices of our own territory. Eventually our pilot action is strictly connected to Action 1 of our Action Plan, which is still in progress, and we expect to lay the basis for its implementation through the pilot.
4) How will the implementation and new lessons learnt from the pilot action be shared among the partnership to enrich the interregional exchange of experience?
In the extended phase 1 period, we will share our interim and final pilot results with partners during the international learning exchange meetings and peer review meetings. And in any case, once the emergency is over, we expect to host WaVE’s partners in Ravenna and show them our sites and our pilot.
5) What does it mean for you to be able to work on the Pilot?
Benefits would be not only in terms of promotion for tourism but also in terms of awareness, involvement and virtuous mechanisms for citizens and stakeholders in general.
Experiential navigation through 3D mapping can be "customized" on the basis of the end users’ needs. On the one hand, ensuring a totally free and high-quality experience to tourists. On the other hand, giving private access to professionals and stakeholders to more technical / scientific knowledge related to historical and cultural water-linked buildings and infrastructures, in order to ensure their future preservation.
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