1 Challenges of Application of Innovative Technologies for Cultural Heritage Management and Presentation Branka Dimitrijević, University of Strathclyde Abstract The recent acceleration of technological developments and the need to improve the understanding of their environmental and socio-economic impacts provide a context in which the capabilities of innovative technologies are presented through some examples of their application in built heritage management and presentation. Developing a sustainability assessment method for decision-making on the application of innovative technologies in cultural heritage management is proposed. The following are outlined: recommendations for strengthening leadership and understanding the changes under way; setting up institutional frameworks for diffusion of innovation; developing a consistent, positive and common narrative to inform future strategies; and the potential pathways for achieving the above goals. Key words: built heritage, innovative technologies, impact assessment 1 Introduction The environmental, socio-economic and political impacts of technological innovations developed in the last two to three decades have inspired both optimistic and pessimistic visions of the future of humanity and our planet. Optimistic visions perceive the acceleration in the development of information communication technologies (ICT) and the achievements in energy generation from renewables as the third industrial revolution (Rifkin, 2011) that could lead to a ‘zero marginal cost society’ based on the diminishing costs of some production processes (Rifkin, 2014). The potential for providing information, collected by sensors across assets of interest for sustainable development via Internet of Things (IoT) platforms in real time, opens opportunities for better-informed and participatory decision-making (Rifkin, 2014). Combined with artificial intelligence, machine learning, gene sequencing, nanotechnology and quantum computing, the interaction of innovations across the physical, digital and biological domains is labelled as the fourth industrial revolution (Schwab, 2017). Schwab (2017) points out that the potential benefits of the recent industrial revolutions could be harnessed if the levels of leadership and understanding of the changes under way, across all sectors, are increased; if the requisite institutional frameworks to govern the diffusion of