Focusing on intellectual properties rights and promoting ICH branding: The Third Capacity Building Workshop on Living Heritage for Rural Revitalization successfully opened

On 11 December 2023, the Third Capacity Building Workshop on Living Heritage for Rural Revitalization successfully opened in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province. This training workshop was organized by UNESCO and hosted by Songtao Miao Autonomous County Peoples’ Government and Suzhou Art and Design Technology Institute (SADTI) within the framework of UNESCO - China Youth Development Foundation Mercedes-Benz Star Fund “Conservation and Management of World Heritage Sites in China” Project Phase IV.   

This year, with the on-boarding of Quanzhou as the new pilot site for UNESCO’s World Heritage Sustainable Livelihood initiative, 25 (15 women) community leaders, ICH bearers and practitioners from the 5 pilot World Heritage sites of Chishui and Songtao, Guizhou Province, Wolong of Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries, Shilin, Yunnan Province and Quanzhou, Fujian Province participated in the workshop.

The Living Heritage for Rural Revitalization workshop series has enhanced capacities of 40 community leaders, including living heritage bearers and business-owners, left-behind women and people from relocated settlement, from Songtao, Shilin, Chishui and Wolong, on heritage safeguarding and creative product design.

This year, building upon fruitful outcomes from the previous workshops and continuing demand from the trainees, the workshop highlights the important theme of intellectual property rights protection and brand operation, which are key in ensuring the sustainability of creative cultural product development and the long-term development of traditional crafts and the transmission of living heritage. 

To address these subjects, the workshop invites a team of expert facilitators from Nanjing University, Jiangnan University, Soochow University and Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications to deliver a series of lectures on intellectual property, brand development and management. Participants also undertake field visits to institutions that have an established foundation and influence for creative living heritage brands, including multiple museums in Suzhou, Su Embroidery Master ZOU Yingzi’s studio, Pingjiang Historic District, and Eslite Bookstore, through which they gain an immersive experience in living heritage brand operations.

For the 25 trainees, the workshop is only the beginning of the capacity enhancement process. After returning to their hometown, the workshop will continue mentoring the trainees and help them prepare intellectual property declaration forms. They will integrate the knowledge learned from the workshop and their field visit experiences to work with ICH bearers and practitioners in their communities to reinforce intellectual property rights protection during product development, establish a unique brand image, and enhance the value and market competitiveness of their ICH products. These concept adaptations from the workshop will also enhance the brand development of the living heritage handicraft industry, and facilitate rural revitalization and sustainable development in World Heritage sites.