Ricerc@Sapienza

Today, the majority of economists agree on the rise of a new industrial revolution: the so-called Industry 4.0. The term Industry 4.0 appears for the first time in 2011 during the Hanover Fair, in a project aimed at promoting the strategic development of German high-tech. The main novelty of this revolution is the intensive use of cyber-physical systems, i.e. systems centered on the connection of real objects and people with virtual processing through information networks (e.g. Internet of Things -IoT, Big Data, Industrial Internet of Things - IIoT-, 3D printing, artificial intelligence, bioengineering, cloud computing) as well as the use of new, efficient and intelligent nanotechnologies and materials (key innovative technologies). These technologies allow new flexible and interactive organisational solutions in production processes, thanks to interconnected robotics that self-learns in an increasingly symbiotic relationship with people. Advanced interactivity, decision-making skills and the possibility of self-learning will allow the machines to immediately adapt to environmental changes, allowing extremely complex tasks to be carried out even in unconventional industrial sectors. This will give rise to the co-creation of a new language, emerging from the intense interaction and interchange between man and machine: a phenomenon no longer exclusively referable to the two worlds singularly considered but a new paradigm, a non-linear result that is difficult to predict. Despite the significant interest in the phenomenon, it is still a challenge to predict its effects on people, companies and institutions.
In this context, the 4.0 revolution is triggering new value creation opportunities (and challenges) not only for the manufacturing industry but also for the cultural heritage and museum sector: while the concept of Museum 4.0 is gaining ground in museum studies, some museums have started to experiment IoT, big data and open data. Over the last decade, different cases and experiences about the museums digitisation have been studied in-depth from different disciplinary perspectives (e.g. information sciences, marketing, museum studies, etc.), but an overall framework which highlights managerial and organisational implications for museums is still missing.
Given this context, this research project aims to identify the various 4.0 opportunities and tools already applied or to be applied to museums and if and how they affect the main dimensions of the museum value-chain (preservation and enhancement) and their interconnection. Notably, the relationship with the environment is considered, examining the ability of museums to grasp the various opportunities emerging from a globalised world, the difficulties they encounter in developing innovation and further possibilities of improvement (e.g. acquisition of new professional skills and new core capabilities, adoption of new organisational models, and ad hoc performance measurement systems etc.).
Moreover, aiming to prevent the museum 4.0 from becoming an empty concept or just a new label for old strategies, this research critically discusses current approaches to the digital transformation of museums through a review of scientific research and relevant national and international case studies on this matter. Both academic literature and reports about activities carried out by museums of different types are analysed, in order: a) to provide a framework of the emerging trends and challenges for the development of the sector; b) to frame managerial tools (e.g. multidisciplinary performances measurement systems) to sustain the decision makers involved in the management of museums.