ERIH ANNUAL CONFERENCES

The ERIH Conference has been held annually since 2005 at different industrial heritage sites across Europe. Each conference focuses on a topical issue in industrial heritage tourism. They also provide a platform for people from different European countries and regions to share experiences, expertise and get to know each other. Speakers and participants are experts from industrial heritage sites and organisations, museums, tourism institutions, heritage authorities, development agencies, academia and people interested in the topic.


SAVE THE DATE
The 20th ERIH Conference will be held in Łódź (PL) from 23-25 October 2024.


 

19TH CONFERENCE 2023 BILBAO (E)

INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE AS AN ENGINE FOR SUSTAINABLE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC COMMUNITY REGENERATION
The New European Bauhaus: Beautiful – Sustainable – Together

8 - 10 November 2023
in Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain and Online


To shape our future the European Commission has formulated "The New European Bauhaus" (NEB) as framework that aims to be a bridge between the world of science and technology, the world of art and culture and community engagement. The NEB is an interdisciplinary initiative that demonstrates how sustainable innovation brings tangible and positive experiences to our daily lives. It calls on all of us to imagine and build together an enriching, sustainable and inclusive future. Industrial heritage provides an ideal opportunity for communities to realize this. On the 2023 ERIH Annual Conference the speakers are going to present inspiring projects that showcase these connections.
 

VIDEO ERIH CONFERENCE 2023


REVIEW OF PREVIOUS CONFERENCES


18TH CONFERENCE 2022 ESCH-ALZETTE (L)

INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE IN MIDST OF THE NEXT INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION - NEW CHALLENGES IN STORYTELLING 
Cultural heritage is not just about preserving our past – it is about shaping our future

  • Conference programme

    The first steps are done: Industrial heritage owes its existence to the structural changes in industry in the last third of the 20th century. Abandoned factories were transformed into venues of culture, preserving the memory of the lives and achievements of engineers and entrepreneurs as well as, and especially, of the workers. These sites convey the legacy of industrial heritage that - despite its many crises - enabled large parts of Europe to experience an era of mass prosperity.

    Today, industrial societies are facing another transformation that calls its very foundations into question. “Protecting, linking and promoting Europe's industrial heritage in a changing world” is the title for our new Creative Europe programme 2022-24. This "changing world" is the generic term for challenges and new developments such as climate change, digitalisation, pandemic, gender equality, inclusion and new values - the world is in a state of transformation and this naturally also has an impact on industrial heritage.

    This transformation can be considered as the next “Industrial Revolution”. With climate crisis, it has become obvious that the way we produce and use things has to change fundamentally. This transformation is not only aiming at a new industry. It changes the way we look back at the industrial age. Especially younger people value it much more critically, not only in terms of its ecological consequences, but also of the intertwining of the industrial age with colonialism.

    Without an understanding of this history and legacies of industrial heritage, the upcoming transformation of industrial society won’t be successful. But when the smoking chimney of the steam engine becomes a portent of the climate crisis and the miner in the coal mine is no longer a working hero but also a symbol of a "fossil" patriarchy, the image of industrial heritage is questioned, as well as the way we communicate with the public.

    These are important, justified insights. They force us to play a more active role in this transformation, to rethink our own operations and make them more sustainable. And in order to reach people, we have to tell our stories differently. We need to address also critical issues inextricably linked to industry. This requires new ways of storytelling at the venues of European industrial heritage.

    Conference programme

  • Photo gallery of the conference
    Photo gallery of the conference
  • Presentations held on the conference

17TH CONFERENCE 2021 GHENT (B)

RESILIENCE
How industrial heritage sites accepted the pandemic challenge and survived the crisis


16TH CONFERENCE 2020 OBERHAUSEN (D)

KEEPING THE WHEELS TURNING
Succession Planning for Industrial Heritage


15TH CONFERENCE 2019 BERLIN (D)

INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE TOURISM - IT'S ALL IN THE MIX
Successful industrial heritage marketing through combination with wider tourism offers