We are READ-COOP

A European Cooperative Society with more than 100 Members globally.

The Origins of READ-COOP

READ-COOP SCE with limited liability was established on 1 July 2019, to sustain and further develop the Transkribus platform. Transkribus was developed within the Horizon 2020 “READ” EU project by a consortium of leading research groups from all over Europe, headed by the University of Innsbruck. See our milestones >>

What we stand for

Open to all institutions and individuals interested in historical documents

Democratically organized with a Board of Directors and a General Meeting

Discounts on all products and services for members

Direct benefits instead of shareholder value – stakeholders matter.

Customers can be owners and owners can be customers.

Download Brand Resources

Why a Cooperative?

We are convinced that the organisational form of a European Cooperative Society enables us to carry out our work in a highly efficient, open, and democratic way.

READ-COOP is based on the EU directive on the European Cooperative Society (SCE) but it is open to members outside of the European Community as well.

We have more than 80 Members

Rijksmuseum Amsterdam

Universität Greifswald

Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel

Frank Arens

Dominique Deslandres

UB Tübingen

Anistatia Miller

Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg

Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften (Austrian Academy of Science)

Stadtarchiv Stockach

iui – innsbruck university innovations GmbH

Nicole Merkel-Hilf

Private Member

Universiteit Antwerpen

Diözesanarchiv St. Pölten

YOYABA Technologies GmbH

Rick Companje

Schiedam Municipality

Natural person (anonymous)

University of Aberdeen

Univerzita Mateja Bela v Banskej Bystrici (Matej Bel University)

Zentralbibliothek Zürich (Central Library Zuerich)

Geneanet SA

Het Utrechts Archief (The Utrecht Archives)

Fundación Bunge y Born

Andrew Stuart Bergerson

Christine Zaborsky

Picturae BV

Walter Boente

Universitätsbibliothek Basel

Stichting Tresoar

Diözese Passau

Colin Greenstreet

Emily Kadens

Museum für Naturkunde Berlin

picturesafe management GmbH

Max-Planck Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften e.V.

Stad Leuven

Giorgos Sfikas

intranda GmbH

Utrecht University

Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Darmstadt

Jules van Laar

Stadtarchiv Zug

Universität Bonn – Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek

University of Bergen library

Kansallisarkisto (The National Archives of Finland)

David Joseph Wrisley

Josef Weißbacher

Private Member

Rahvusarhiiv (National Archives of Estonia)

Technische Universität Wien

Universität Rostock

Andy Stauder

Max Weber Stiftung – Deutsche Geisteswissenschaftliche lnstitute im Ausland

University of Copenhagen

Marcus Bateman

Elisa Bastianello

Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland r.f. (Society of Swedish Literature in Finland)

Adam Sofronijevic

Staatsarchiv des Kantons Zürich

Universität Wien

Noord-Hollands Archief

Riksarkivet (Swedish National Archives)

Universität Bern: Walter Benjamin Kolleg

Trinity College Dublin, University of Dublin

Walter Hartmann

Universiteit van Amsterdam

University of Helsinki

Leopold Franzens Universität Innsbruck

National Library of Scotland

Universitätsbibliothek Freiburg

University of Edinburgh

Fondazione Banco di Napoli

Suphan Kirmizialtin

Urs Leo Gantenbein

Universitat Politècnica de València (Technical University Valencia)

University of Iceland

University of Cambridge

University of Maryland

University of Tartu

Arkivverket (National Archives of Norway)

National Library of Norway

Stadsarchief Amsterdam (Amsterdam City Archives)

Günter Mühlberger

Akademie der Wissenschaften in Hamburg (Academy of Sciences Hamburg)

KB, National Library of the Netherlands

Private Member

Leiden University Libraries

ZAMG Bibliothek

NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust, and Genocide Studies

British Library

Radboud University

Armin Bernauer

Archives nationales de Luxembourg

Hervé Baudry

Kurt Rossacher

Initiative zur Erhaltung historischer Bauten e. V.

Université du Québec à Rimouski

INT – Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal (Dutch Language Institute)

RHC Groninger Archieven

Verein für Computergenealogie e. V.

Organisationen Danske Arkiver (Organization of Danish Archives)

Private Member

Gemeinde Wien: Wienbibliothek im Rathaus

Naver Labs Europe

Melissa Terras

See all Members >>

What is an SCE?

A legal entity that allows its members to carry out common activities, while preserving their independence
The principal objective is the meeting of its members’ needs and not the return on capital investment.
It enables members to benefit proportionally to their usage and practical contribution and not to their financial capital.

With this governance model we are able to

Support humanities scholars, archives, libraries and the general public in transcribing, recognising and searching historical documents with cutting edge technology

Run a community driven platform for gathering and sharing documents, transcriptions, technology, and knowledge among members and the public

Constantly improve technologies such as text recognition, layout analysis, and table recognition in close cooperation with research groups and technology providers

Board

READ-COOP is run by the board of directors consisting of

Günter Mühlberger

University of Innsbruck

Chair

Andy Stauder

READ-COOP SCE

Managing director

Melissa Terras

University of Edinburgh

Scholarly director

Annemieke Romein

Community director

Florian Stauder

Operations director

The board is supervised and elected by the General meeting of all members, which meets at least once a year.

Statutes of READ-COOP

The statutes of READ-COOP SCE are the legal basis for our work. Please read them carefully. They are compliant with the EU directive on European Cooperatives as well as with national Austrian legislation and related laws. They were carefully set up with support from the Raiffeisen Association and approved by the Landesgericht Innsbruck (State Court of Tyrol). The official registration number of READ-COOP SCE with limited liability is FN 520187g, our VAT ID is ATU74983823.

German and English version of the READ-COOP statutes

Official registration letter – in German

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We are READ-COOP

The Origins of READ-COOP

What we stand for

Why a Cooperative?

We have more than 80 Members

What is an SCE?

With this governance model we are able to

Board

Statutes of READ-COOP

Join us and become a member

The COOP

Products & Services

Useful information

Helpful resources

Community