MDR is an SME which since its formation in 2000 been centrally involved in developments to establish a strong presence for Europe‘s local cultural institutions and their content and new services in the digital environment. It has in particular been the scientific coordinator/project manager of important networking and best practice promotion activities under IST which have involved partners from every member and candidate country. These have included CALIMERA (Cultural Applications: Local Institutions Mediating Electronic Resource Access) under FP6, PULMAN and PULMAN-XT (FP5).

MDR wass co-ordinator of the EuropeanaLocal Best Practice Network project under eContentplus and is co-ordinator of the CARARE Best Practice network funded under the CIP ICT PSP programme, which are respectively designed to help and regional cultural institutions and archaeology and architectural heritage organisations to make their content available through Europeana and deliver new services. MDR is project manager for the PATHS project under the FP7 programme. MDR was also co-ordinator of the ePSIplus Thematic Network under the eContentplus programme and its successor ePSIplatform contract, which supported development of the European Agenda on the re-use of Public Sector Information, following transposition of the related European Directive into member state’s legislation. Each of the actions described above has involved the creation of extensive and well-used web dissemination and content management facilities, the organisation of conferences and other high impact dissemination activities, most of which have been co-ordinated and implemented by MDR.