Two research centres affiliated with Instituto Superior Técnico are coordinating the European project ‘Sustainable Intelligent Management of Indoor Air Quality for the Culture and Creative Industries (SIMIACCI)’. The Centro de Recursos Naturais e Ambiente (CERENA) and the Centre for Management Studies at Instituto Superior Técnico (CEGIST) are leading this initiative which, since January 2025, has sought to develop a new family of air purifiers aimed at revolutionising indoor air quality management in cultural heritage institutions. To support the transition to more sustainable practices, which is a growing demand in all sectors of the European Union’s economy, the consortium has been awarded a €4 million grant.
Traditionally, museums, libraries, galleries, and archives require substantial energy to control volatile compounds and humidity levels, which can be harmful for cultural heritage artifacts. The SIMIACCI project aims to build a prototype to monitor and control indoor air quality, thereby reducing energy consumption in these institutions.
CERENA scientists will model the distribution of pollutants in the air and study innovative materials for air filters to capture pollutants that are harmful to artifacts. The role of CEGIST will be to assess the environmental impact of the new product, ensuring it fulfils its purpose of helping partner institutions achieve their climate strategies.
Moisés Pinto, a professor at Técnico and a researcher at CERENA, is the project coordinator. “We are confident that SIMIACCI will build something useful not only for museums but also for the sustainability and efficiency of other buildings across Europe”, he shares.
At the SIMIACCI kick-off meeting, about 30 partners coming from Denmark, France, the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy and Belgium, travelled to Lisbon to visit the National Coach Museum, namely the archives and the building. During their stay, the partners had the opportunity to see first-hand the real issues that SIMIACCI aims to address, envisioning its potential impact.