CASPAR will address the growing challenge facing society of a deluge of intrinsically fragile digital information, upon which it is increasingly dependent, by building a pioneering framework to support the end-to-end preservation "lifecycle" for scientific, artistic and cultural information, based on existing and emerging standards. The project aims at developing core components for the preservation of digital information, based on the principles and designs of the OAIS standard (ISO:14721:2002). These components will then be employed on three test beds built by the project, in the areas of scientific data, performing arts and cultural heritage. CASPAR will proof and extend the OAIS concepts, resulting in a rich methodology with associated tools, actively contribute to the relevant standardisation activities in the areas addressed by the project and raise awareness about the critical importance of digital preservation among the relevant user-communities in order to facilitate the emergence of a more diverse offer of systems and services for preservation of digital resources.