The document discusses the need for a new digital research infrastructure called DARIAH to support humanities research in Europe. It proposes that DARIAH would provide access to digitized cultural heritage data and tools to process this information. The infrastructure would link distributed resources across Europe and support innovative, international and interdisciplinary digital humanities research through a decentralized network of national and thematic organizations. Preparation projects are underway to define DARIAH's strategic vision, business model, technical architecture and governance structure.