Infrastructures not only offer a reliable, stable base and provide tools and services for fast evolving digital research, but can also serve as a contact and information point for navigating the myriad of partners and policy shifts, also at an international level.

Since its launch in October 2020, NFDI4Culture (https://nfdi4culture.de/) – the Consortium for Research Data on Material and Immaterial Cultural Heritage – has established itself as a reliable infrastructure bridging cultural disciplines, such as art history, architecture, musicology, theatre, dance, film and media studies, in Germany. NFDI4Culture represents a bottom up, coordinated effort to systematically manage, integrate and preserve research data across its communities. It is part of the National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI) and one of twenty six subject specific consortia, funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG).

NFDI4Culture focuses on the needs of the cultural heritage community. With its vision – Shared Data, Shared Practice, Shared Knowledge – it has built a wide ranging network bringing together eleven applying partners as well as over a hundred partners from academia, museums, libraries, archives, the creative industries and public institutions.

So far events, a Culture Kickstarter grant‑support scheme, a highly frequented Helpdesk (including legal expertise) and Flex‑Funds for software development provided by project members have proved successful formats for community engagement. External communication is supported by an open chat platform with an information ticker and a weekly report of upcoming events, news posts, a newsletter and social media presence, although international developments have so far been addressed only peripherally.

Whilst the first project phase focused on a national infrastructure, this second phase, launched in October 2025, has made international cooperation one of three major strategic priorities, next to quality assurance and artificial intelligence (AI). NFDI4Culture will, therefore, prioritise international knowledge and technology exchange, close collaboration with research infrastructures abroad as well as active contributions to open GLAM-platforms.

Alongside DARIAH-EU, initiatives such as the DS4CH (Data Space for Cultural Heritage) and the EU-funded ECHOES are aiming to create a European Cultural Heritage Cloud. International collaborations are growing, new funding opportunities are emerging, and many community members feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of partners and developments. As a result, NFDI4Culture has created an International Liaison Agency to support consortium members by coordinating, incentivising and monitoring international collaborations and by pinpointing gaps that help the community navigate an increasingly complex landscape. To put this vision into practice, quarterly landscape reports will supplement the existing information ticker and weekly reports with a European focused overview of trends, standards, grants and events. The paper will touch upon further incentives as well as challenges, and will address the underlying question of how the success of a digital infrastructure’s international engagement can be systematically diagnosed, quantified and monitored, and will present a draft conceptual framework designed for NFDI4Culture to guide that assessment.

In sum, this approach aims to turn a fragmented set of partners into a coherent, navigable network, fostering sustainable cross border collaboration and strengthening NFDI4Culture’s digital research infrastructure for cultural heritage across Europe.