Some of the heritage sector’s top names have gathered in Berlin for preservation specialists CyArk's annual summit.

The two-day event kicks off today (20 October) in Berlin’s Staatsbibliothek with opening speeches from CyArk founders Ben and Barbara Kacyra, Internationale Rat für Denkmalpflege (ICOMOS) president Gustavo Araoz and Barbara Schneider-Kempf, director of the Staatsbibliothek.

Now in its third year, the CyArk 500 event is this year themed on “Resilience Through Innovation”, bringing together heritage leaders in policy, culture, technology and business to discuss and develop solutions at the intersection of culture and technology. This year there are a record number of attendees, with around 200 delegates from 35 countries.

CyArk is a not-for-profit entity of the Kacyra Family Foundation, formed to digitally preserve cultural heritage sites through collecting, archiving and providing open access to data created by laser scanning, digital modelling, and other state-of-the-art technologies. In the Q2 2015 edition of Attractions Management, Elizabeth Lee, vice president of CyArk spoke about these challenges and her organisation’s efforts to scan and share detailed heritage site maps from around the world for public consumption..

Among the sessions for day one, Layla Salih from the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities in Iraq, and Francesco Bandarin, former director of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre are scheduled to speak. Tomorrow’s lineup includes Dieter Fritsch, head of the Institute for Photogrammetry at the University of Stuttgart, plus David Mitchell, director of conservation for Historic Scotland.

In addition to the stellar lineup of speakers, a tech showcase will demonstrate the latest in data management, archiving and 3D capture technologies – all key for CyArk on its mission to digitally map 500 key in-danger heritage sites across the world before they are lost forever.

Attractions Management is on hand at the two-day summit in Berlin so be sure to check back here for all the latest developments on the heritage preservation event..