The proposal’s main aim consists in organizing an international conference entitled “The role of cultural heritage in socio-economic development and preservation of democratic values – HERItage". The conference was originally planned to be organised in Opatija by the University of Rijeka, as part of the Croatian Presidency of the Council of the European Union in March 2020, but due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic the conference is organised as a virtual one from June 15 to June 18, 2020. The original three-day conference with more than 300 speakers has been turned into four video sessions. The main objective of the conference is to identify priorities for an agenda to safeguard and develop cultural heritage as one of Europe’s most defining features – a sense of belonging and of our economic driver. The HERItage conference is intrinsically related to the European Capital of Culture 2020 (ECOC2020), which takes place in Rijeka in 2020. The conference hence aims to maintain and develop the quality and continuity of scholarly debates and to encourage international and cross-border cooperation. Particularly the conference aims to discuss: - The role of universities in promoting and preserving cultural heritage: education, research and social responsibility - The role of scientific research in strengthening the preservation of industrial heritage - Challenges and opportunities of digital transformations: the role of digital tools in preserving cultural and industrial heritage Focus will also include public policies: cultural heritage and democratic values and cooperation and innovation: cultural heritage and social transformation. The conference builds on the provisions of the Horizon 2020 Work Programme 2018-2020, SC 6 as well as on the “Orientations towards the first Strategic Plan implementing the research and innovation framework programme Horizon Europe”. It also relies on the synergistic and collaborative efforts of the Joint Programming Initiative Cultural Heritage and Global Change and its perspective ties to digitisation and computing facilities. The HERItage conference will gather stakeholders from academia, governmental organizations, industries, SMEs and end users of research results.