“We counter the feeling that ‘heritage isn’t for me’ by making it clear everyone has something to contribute to digitisation. In this way, we can shift the curatorial power of who decides what we need to preserve.”
Chao Tayiana Maina, Founder of African Digital Heritage
There is a rich and growing global ecosystem of cultural heritage practitioners using technology to reimagine what heritage is, who it belongs to and how we may preserve it for future generations. Cultural heritage practitioners globally are developing increasingly imaginative technical solutions, and fostering creative innovation to safeguard rich histories, often in areas where conflict and climate change present significant challenges.
However, while technology can democratise tools, create new public spaces, and break down long-standing barriers to cultural information, it can also reinforce historic biases, perpetuate economic, social and cultural inequalities, and have damaging environmental impacts.
This report illustrates the innovative potential of Digital Cultural Heritage, providing insights into key areas where Digital Cultural Heritage is advancing technologies. Taking the Cultural Protection Fund (CPF) as a starting point, the report spotlights on the insights of 25 cultural heritage practitioners in Egypt, Ethiopia, Iraq, and Kenya. Providing deep dives into nine technologies, cutting edge case studies, and recommendations across the Digital Cultural Heritage pipeline, the report encourages cultural heritage practitioners and organisations to navigate a path that balances the creative potential of technologies with their evidenced complexities and limitations.
Key recommendations
The five recommendations of the report emphasise the need for sustained investment that considers the full pipeline of Digital Cultural Heritage. Support across each of these areas will ensure technological foundations are fair, adaptable and sustainable in the long term:
- Infrastructure: Digital Cultural Heritage infrastructure that considers interconnected social, ecological, and technological systems. For example, if a project is investing in reliable internet access, it should also consider clean, stable energy supply for servers, and harnessing community engagement and local knowledge.
- Data collection: Cultural heritage data collection processes that engage community stakeholders in data collection and management, including decisions about which data to preserve.
- Data stewardship: Cultural heritage data stewardship models that engage communities in the sustainable ownership of data. For example, projects that support long-term communities of practice, sustained learning, and critical thinking about technologies, or small-scale, community-led models of data ownership.
- Audience engagement: Creative applications of technologies to engage audiences in cultural heritage, particularly young audiences or those without pre-existing access to or interest in heritage. Of particular interest are novel digital approaches to protecting living heritage, alongside approaches that depart from traditional museum contexts, for example user-generated content, distribution via Social Media, or gamification.
- Long term maintenance: Digital cultural heritage maintenance models that prioritise sustainability and resilience over continuous innovation to ensure that existing, previously funded projects remain functional. Of particular interest are projects that combine technical maintenance, with holistic processes that enable institutional or community agility, responsiveness, and ability to adapt in the face of change.
Translations
Download the executive summary in Arabic, Swahili and Amharic.
Citation
McKenna, F., Rivera-Carlisle, J., Foale, M. G., Gould, A., Rivera-Carlisle, P., Andrews, H., Grant, S., Hawcroft, A., Head, D. (2025). Digital Cultural Heritage: Imagination, innovation and opportunity. British Council. https://doi.org/10.57884/h3dv-7q98. Digital Cultural Heritage © 2025 by The British Council is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0
