International Youth Forum (IYF) 2025 – Creativity and Heritage along the Silk Roads
- Omran Aburayya
- Sep 24
- 3 min read
If you’re a young changemaker passionate about heritage, culture, and digital innovation—listen up! The International Youth Forum (IYF) 2025 – Creativity and Heritage along the Silk Roads is now open for applications. This is your chance to join a global dialogue, learn from peers, and co-create solutions that bridge cultural traditions and modern technologies.
📌 IYF 2025 Summary
Location: Nanjing and Changsha, China
Dates: 16–22 November 2025
Organisers: UNESCO, Chinese National Commission for UNESCO, WFUCA, Municipal Governments of Nanjing & Changsha
Theme: “Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Youth for Heritage Protection and Inheritance”
Target Group: Youth aged 18–32 with interest/experience in cultural heritage, digital innovation, or entrepreneurship
Application Deadline: 30 September 2025
Start Date: 16 November 2025
🎯 Forum Overview
The IYF initiative is designed to bring together young innovators, cultural practitioners, technologists, and entrepreneurs who believe in safeguarding cultural heritage through creative, digital, and entrepreneurial means. Over its past iterations, the forum has cultivated a network of youth bridging the Silk Road regions through intercultural exchange and collaborative innovation.
In 2025, the emphasis shifts to exploring how digital tools (e.g. AR/VR, apps, data platforms) and entrepreneurial models can help preserve, revitalize, and transmit heritage in sustainable ways.
🧩 Programme & Activities (Tentative)
While the full schedule may be shared with selected participants, past editions and the 2025 call describe likely components:
Opening & orientation sessions: Setting the tone, introducing participants and mentors
Plenary sessions / expert talks: On topics such as heritage preservation, digital culture, innovation in creative industries
Hands-on workshops / labs: Where participants co-develop prototypes, pitch ideas, or experiment with cultural tech solutions
Showcase / pitching sessions: Participants present their heritage + innovation projects for feedback or support
Cultural exchange / field visits: Visits to heritage sites, museums, or local cultural institutions in Nanjing and Changsha
Networking & mentoring: Connecting participants with heritage experts, digital innovators, cultural institutions, funders
Closing & action planning: Session to integrate learning into participants’ communities and plan for post-forum follow-up
✅ Benefits & Coverage
Fully covered participation costs: Selected participants typically receive support for accommodation, meals, in-country transport, and sometimes health insurance (based on past editions)
Opportunity to pitch your project or idea in front of peers and mentors
Access to a global network of youth innovators, heritage professionals, cultural institutions
Capacity building: Skills development in digital tools, heritage management, entrepreneurship
Cultural immersion: Field visits, exchanges, exposure to heritage sites and local cultural practices
Visibility: Selected projects may receive exposure through UNESCO’s networks and associated media
🧩 Eligibility & Selection Criteria
To be considered, you should meet or strongly align with:
Age: 18 to 32 years old
Background / Passion: Demonstrable interest or work/academic experience in cultural heritage, arts, digital innovation, creative industries
Entrepreneurial orientation: Projects or ideas that blend heritage with innovation, or evidence of prior entrepreneurial or project-driven work in culture/tech
Cultural diversity & dialogue: Openness to engage across cultures, share your own heritage, collaborate globally
Commitment to action: Intention to apply what you learn after the forum, to benefit your community or network
ℹ️ Selection is competitive, and preference may go to applicants whose proposals or backgrounds strongly reflect the forum’s intersection of heritage + digital innovation.
📝 Application Procedure
Visit the official application portal via UNESCO’s IYF page or relevant partner page
Complete the online application form (personal details, motivation, project or idea proposal, etc.) - Apply Here
Submit supporting documents by the deadline (30 September 2025)
Await selection notification — organizers will inform selected candidates with logistical details
🛠️ Tips & Extra Insights
The forum has been held annually since 2017, gathering hundreds of youth across dozens of countries, especially those along the Silk Road corridors.
The UNESCO page emphasizes that “past forums have gathered over 600 young participants from 137 countries.”
Even though the call mentions support, always verify what the “fully covered” benefits include (airfare, local transport, visa support) when acceptance is confirmed.
Propose practical, scalable ideas: heritage + technology is a fast-evolving space. Think about mobile apps, AR tours, community platforms, digital storytelling, IoT for heritage monitoring, etc.
Show how your idea can be sustainable and community-centered (not just tech for tech’s sake).
Engage with local heritage in your community—this adds credibility and shows you are grounded in practice.
Apply early (well before the 30 September 2025 deadline) in case of adjustments or issues.
🔔 Conclusion
The International Youth Forum 2025 – Creativity and Heritage along the Silk Roads is a chance to turn your passion into action. Your voice, your innovation, and your cultural roots can help shape how heritage is understood, protected, and reimagined in a digital age.
Don’t wait—gather your materials, sharpen your vision, and submit your application before 30 September 2025. This is your opportunity to join a vibrant network of youth leaders at the intersection of culture and technology.
