To commemorate Thai Heritage Conservation Day on 2 April, NECTEC-NSTDA and UNESCO announced a collaboration to use a digital platform called NAVANURAK to support the collection and conservation of cultural heritage. The initiative is in line with the Bio-Circular-Green Economy (BCG) model aiming to apply science, technology, innovation to add value to biological and cultural assets in order to achieve sustainable development. The project will not only preserve cultural heritage, but also supports the work and network of historians and heritage conservators.

Developed by NECTEC, NAVANURAK is a digital platform for archiving biological and cultural assets. It was designed to systematically archive data on cultural heritage, local wisdom and biological resources. The platform allows local communities and agencies to develop, maintain and publicize an online database of local cultural heritage under the concept of open data so that the information can be freely accessed and fully utilized to support the creative economy, tourism and sustainable community development.

With NAVANURAK, data and information on cultural heritage from various sources can be systematically collected and integrated into one system and can be easily accessed. Supported by the SCG Foundation, this project is expected to enhance the capability of heritage conservation professionals. In addition to the platform and database development, the project will build a network of heritage conservators and organize heritage conservation-related activities such as a heritage woodworking contest.