Mario Aymerich (EIB) - Keynote - 1st InHeriT International Conference Athens 2016
Channel: InHeriT_ ERASMUS+ KA2 Adult Education
Date: 2016-10-03

Mario Aymerich, European Investment Bank, Luxenburg

Toward an integrated approach to funding cultural heritage for Europe. Contribution by the European Investment Bank to funding Cultural Heritage projects

In 2012 the World Bank published the book on the economics of cultural heritage . Its main conclusions may be summarized as follows:

• Several valuation methods show that heritage investment does have positive return…Interpreting heritage as cultural capital has a clear parallel with the definition of environment as natural capital.
• Through a balanced blend of regulations and incentives, the public and private values of heritage can be enhanced… they contribute to urban livability, attracting talent, and providing an enabling environment for job creation.
• Heritage investment has distributional effects. Moreover, it develops tourism, a labor intensive industry that provides proportionally more income opportunities for the cities low-skilled laborers and the poor.
• There are a number of successful models, with and increasing integration of public and private financing. Among them, public-private partnerships, land value finance mechanisms, urban development funds and impact investment funds.

The European Investment Bank has not published any official specific document on this issue but it is not difficult to assume the above principles could be easily assumed within the general context of its support to sustainable development . The intention of this self-standing document is twofold. On the one hand, it explores the most relevant European policies in which cultural heritage has a significant role. On the other hand, it identifies international public sources of funds that can be used to enhance/rehabilitate cultural heritage assets. 

It has been published at the web sites of Europa Nostra (www.europanostra.org) and the European Investment Bank Institute (www.institute.eib.org).

CULTURAL HERITAGE AS ECONOMIC VALUE
Economic Benefits, Social Opportunities and Challenges of Cultural Heritage for Sustainable Development 
11-13 May 2016, Kastri, Athens