MedSTACH attended the Innovation and Cultural Heritage High-level Horizon 2020 Conference of the European Year of Cultural Heritage that took place in Brussels on the 20^th of March 2018. The conference was organized by the European Commission Directorate General for Research and Innovation, in close cooperation with Directorates General for Education and Culture and for Communications Networks, Content and Technology and was attended by hundreds of representatives of the cultural heritage sector from all around Europe.

The conference was organized as a means to showcase the dialogue between contemporary European society and the most promising innovations in the field of cultural heritage that European policies and funds have supported. MedSTACH could not, of course, be missing from this European event given its mission – the development of the necessary scientific and technological environment for the advancement of the state-of-the-art in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage research and related applications/services in Cyprus, the Eastern Mediterranean region, Europe, and beyond – is perfectly aligned with the main themes of the high-level conference.

The conference sessions highlighted policy, social, technological, methodological innovations and new, promising partnerships for cultural heritage. A long list of distinguished speakers – including Jean-David Malo, Director of the European Commission Directorate General for Research and Innovation, Gábor Sonkoly of the Panel for European Heritage Label, Antonia Moropoulou of the National Technical University of Athens, Piero Baglioni of the University of Florence and Mariya Gabriel, European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society – led a series of panel discussions and round tables on policy developments, success stories and future challenges on cultural heritage.

During the conference Drs Theodora Moutsiou and Andreas Charalambous of the Archaeological Unit, University of Cyprus and post-doctoral researchers at MedSTACH had the opportunity to exchange ideas and network with scientists, policy makers and stakeholders from around Europe and to showcase the importance of projects like MedSTACH for a sustainable future for European Cultural Heritage.

The conference is part of the programme of the European year of Cultural Heritage and is expected to contribute to its legacy by launching the public discussion about the objectives of European research and innovation policy for cultural heritage beyond 2020.

The beautiful Royal Museum of Arts and History of Brussels hosted the event and proved a most suitable and motivating environment for inspiring discussions about European cultural heritage and innovation.