Degradation of a cultural artifact depends on the environmental stress over time, especially during fluctuating environmental conditions, and the reactive behaviors of the materials of its composition. For an effective preventive conservation (PC) it is key to consider the historic environmental stress and degradation kinetics of the different materials (and their synergies) and monitor the artifact at all times. However, due to the heterogeneity of the material nature of the artifacts, this requires expensive monitoring as well as specialized personnel, out of reach for most, small to medium-sized museums.

CollectionCare will develop an innovative PC decision support system targeting the needs of small-medium sized museums. It will integrate IoT monitoring of the micro-climatology of each artifact at any place, either at display, storage, handling or transport, integrated with multiscale modelling for the different artifact materials while complying with current PC norms and recommendations. This project will integrate the latest advances in sensoring electronics, LPWAN wireless communication, multiscale and multi-material degradation knowledge, big data and cloud computing into a single affordable system, adapted to the specific needs and resources of small museums and collections.