CARARE - D7.3: Analytic report on sustainability and recommended business case (Final)

It is well recognised that discrete funding on a single project basis may be appropriate for the development phase of infrastructure projects, but it does not represent a viable mode to sustain infrastructure in the long term. The CARARE project has created an aggregation service for content from a range of cultural heritage organisations receiving funding for this specific task and tied to a specific period of time, i.e. the length of the project. This means that the CARARE network and the aggregator itself (which is not cost neutral to run, maintain and expand) needs an on-going funding stream to ensure its sustainability. The objective of CARARE Work Package 7 has been to investigate and, if possible, to define a sustainable business model for the network and aggregator that allows for the provision of long-term services to the Europeana, while ensuring its extensibility (in terms of new content providers), adaptability to new user needs and also to new technological developments.

Initial analysis by the ADS noted three possible general approaches for maintaining content aggregators for Europeana data beyond the length of the project funding:

1. Europeana contributes to the sustainability of its aggregators e.g. working with aggregators to develop value added services for sectors/domains/content providing communities that help contribute towards the costs of running the aggregation service.
2. The aggregators contribute to the sustainability of Europeana – by providing content and developing services that contribute to the running costs of the aggregation service and also Europeana.
3. The aggregator develops an independent business model for its sustainability that enables it to continue providing content to Europeana and value added services for its own user community.