Reaching its conclusion yesterday (21 October), the CyArk 500 annual summit has brought together top names from across the heritage sector to discuss future strategy and trends in Berlin.

The two-day event, which took place in Berlin’s State Library, was held between 20-21 October and followed the theme of “Resilience Through Innovation”, bringing together heritage leaders in policy, culture, technology and business for a number of talks and technology showcases all designed to benefit heritage preservation.

The destruction being caused by ISIS in Iraq and Syria was a strong theme throughout the talks, with Layla Salih from the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities speaking on the challenges that face the country plagued by terrorist organisation. Meanwhile, Francesco Bandarin, former director of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, called for further government intervention to prevent the destruction caused by the group.

Damaged caused in this year’s Nepal earthquake also featured heavily in the talks, with UNESCO’s chair of the Research Center for Disaster Mitigation of Urban Cultural Heritage, Rohit Jigyasu, talking about the challenges faced in dealing with sudden disasters and the management and training needed to restore these historical locations to what they once were.

Technology was also on the forefront, with Adrian Ferrier – who heads up product development in visual intelligence solutions for California-based mapping company Trimble Navigation – touting the potential that Microsoft’s Hololens can bring to the heritage sector, while talks on various mapping technologies used to scan buildings were also showcased, with real-life examples such as the scanning of Copenhagen Cathedral.

“The summit has been a tremendous success,” said Elizabeth Lee, vice president of CyArk speaking to Attractions Management. “We’ve had our largest participation yet with more than 200 delegates from 30 different countries and we also had a great diversity of speakers.

“We’ve had people speaking about the risk facing heritage and part of the traditional response. We’ve seen everything from first aid to what can be done at a policy level and then we’ve also seen some great technologies ready to revolutionise the sector."

For more news and exclusives coming out of the CyArk 500 summit, check back with Attractions Management in the coming weeks