CURIOSA: The Next-Generation AI-Powered Discoverability Engine

ongoing

The CURIOSA project aims to develop a next-generation AI-powered discoverability engine, designed specifically for the European digital content distribution sector, with a cross-sectoral, de-siloed cultural vision at its core. Tailored for VOD platforms, FAST channels, and hybrid services, CURIOSA enables natural-language navigation via prompts and delivers editorially curated recommendations that are sensitive to cultural, linguistic, and social contexts. The engine operates directly from audiovisual files, independently of conventional metadata, making it possible to surface often-invisible content works in minority languages or underrepresented formats. By interlinking audiovisual content (films, series, documentaries, animation), cultural works (music, dance, opera, concerts, performing arts, visual art, architecture, photography), and adjacent sectors (news, history, wellness, travel, gastronomy, fashion, luxury), CURIOSA expands user journeys and fosters catalogue interoperability, enriching and diversifying audiences. The project also tests an innovative economic model based on cross-platform affiliation and bundling. CURIOSA enables an interconnected network of content distributors to recommend and redirect traffic toward one another’s platforms, creating editorial cooperation and shared monetization flows through federated offers. CURIOSA integrates eco-design principles from the outset (lightweight AI, green hosting, environmental audit) and is supported by a robust legal governance aligned with GDPR and anticipating the AI Act. CURIOSA embodies a new paradigm in cultural distribution: beyond silos, beyond formats, beyond borders. It creates a common ground where Europe’s diverse creative expressions can circulate, connect and grow.