The 2nd Asian Cultural Heritage Youth Forum was held in Kuching, Malaysia from 1 to 2 October. The Macao University of Tourism (UTM) student team won the “Best Proposal in Technology Innovation” with their outstanding performance.

The event was hosted by the China Foundation for Cultural Heritage Conservation and Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus, and organised by the Asian Fund for Cultural Heritage Conservation, the UNESCO Chair in Sustainable Tourism for World Heritage Sites, the Department of History of the Fudan University, and the School of Tourism Management of the Sun Yat-sen University. After several rounds of rigorous screening and evaluation, a total of 20 teams from all of Asia were invited to Kuching, the capital of Sarawak province, Malaysia, to participate in the on-site full English presentation and defence session with their proposals on heritage conservation and valorisation.

UTM was represented by the “Maximum team”, composed of five second-year students from Culture and Heritage Management degree programme (in no particular order): Ruirui Cao,  Fei Nie, Chenyu Liu, Zhenyu Lv and Zimeng Zhu. Under the careful guidance of Dr. Gai Jorayev, the team successfully passed the screening and was invited to enter the final round of the competition. Their proposal “Accurate Protection and Activate Innovation proposals for Kaiping Diaolou and Villages — Protection of Cultural Heritage by Science and Technology” was awarded the “Best Proposal in Technology Innovation” This proposal took cultural heritage site of Kaiping Diaolou and surrounding villages as an example, analysed the challenges and problems faced by current cultural heritage protection system in depth, and proposed innovative solutions for protection using modern technology at its core. The judges highly praised their proposal, recognising its scientific solidity and feasibility, and emphasising that the group showed outstanding capabilities and potential in science and technology innovation.

The excellent performance of the Maximum team in the forum demonstrated UTM's research and educational achievements in cultural heritage field. UTM believes that the participation and knowledge sharing has given new impetus to Asia-wide collaboration of students in cultural heritage field, and the cultivation of young talents for admirable task of protection and utilisation of Asian cultural heritage.

Looking ahead, UTM will continue to leverage its professional advantages and educational resources, strengthen exchanges and cooperation with the international community, and cultivate more outstanding young talents for the study, protection and valorisation of world cultural heritage. This will jointly promote the prosperity and development of cultural heritage in Asia and globally.