On October 20, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) officially released the list of the first batch of 136 iconicmajor application scenarios. The projectDigitalIntelligenceActivation and Industrial Innovation Scenariosfor the Cultural Heritageof the Palace Museum, submitted under the lead of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, with the Palace Museum serving as the overall coordinator and principal implementing unit, has been selected.

The Digital Intelligence Activation and Industrial Innovation Scenarioswill be implemented from 2026 to 2035. Taking the Palace Museum as the carrier of core cultural resources, the initiative will leverage new technologies including artificial intelligence, digital twins, real-scene 3D modeling and virtual reality. Focusing on priority areas such as immersive experience, digital exhibition, digital art, smart cultural tourism and the circulation and utilization of cultural digital assets, it will build a full-chain application system covering the conservation and utilization of cultural heritage, innovation of digital content, improvement of public experience and expansion of international communication.

The development of this scenario centers on the physical conservation of cultural heritage. It carries out systematic digital data acquisition and steadily enhances the capacity for digital-intelligent collaborative management of cultural heritage, thereby building a solid digital-intelligent foundation for heritage conservation and administration as well as public cultural services.Going forward, successful practices and experience from among the first batch of landmark major application scenario projects will be summarized to develop a replicable and scalable working model, institutional mechanism and set of standards for such scenarios’fostering and opening up. Efforts will be accelerated to pursue coordinated planning, sound implementation and steady rollout across the cultural heritage sector nationwide.