The Third UNESCO Creative Cities Beijing Summit highlights creativity and innovation

The Third UNESCO Creative Cities Beijing Summit is held in Beijing from September 17-18, 2020. With the theme of "Creativity empowers cities, technology creates the future", the summit is co-hosted by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, People's Government of Beijing Municipality, National Commission of the People's Republic of China for UNESCO.

"Beijing, as the City of Design of UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN), has set a good example of integrating the thousands of years of history and cutting-edge technology," the Director-General of UNESCO, Audrey Azoulay, remarked in her opening speech. 

"The city serves as a special space for unity, cooperation, and innovation. The development of the city will determine the vision of our future society," added Audrey Azoulay.

During the summit, the e-publication of "UNESCO Creative Cities' Response to the COVID-19" was globally launched. It collates best practices from member cities of UCCN around the world, leveraging the power of culture and creativity in response to COVID-19. The publication is now available in Chinese, English, French, and the Spanish version to be launched soon.

This summit includes a main forum and three panels. Entitled "Creativity and Innovation: A path to the cities of tomorrow," the main forum highlights on the digital economy and the importance of creativity and innovation as the driving force to build a more sustainable and resilient city in the future. Furthermore, the three panels emphasize three different topics on Creative Cities, Science, Technology and Creativity, as well as Inter-city Collaboration.