Ministry of Culture Hosts Global Roundtable on Future-Ready Museums in Delhi

The one-day roundtable provided a dynamic platform for policy-makers, curators, designers, museum directors, and cultural technologists to engage in meaningful dialogue.

In a strategic effort to catalyze innovation and transformation in India's museum sector, the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, organized a high-level Museum Roundtable on 24th July 2025 at the National Museum, New Delhi. Themed around the “Latest Advancements in the Museum Sector,” the conclave brought together an impressive group of museum professionals, curators, technologists, and cultural leaders from both India and abroad. This landmark initiative marked a significant milestone in India’s journey toward modern, inclusive, and technology-augmented museums.

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A Convergence of Ideas: Dialogue at the Crossroads of Culture and Technology

The one-day roundtable provided a dynamic platform for policy-makers, curators, designers, museum directors, and cultural technologists to engage in meaningful dialogue. The sessions delved deep into three critical pillars shaping the future of museum practices:

1. Curation and Programming in Museums

2. Design in Museums

3. Use of Emerging Technologies in Museums

Each thematic area sparked high-level discourse on redefining audience engagement, rethinking spatial design, and integrating digital innovations to create immersive, inclusive, and sustainable museum experiences.

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Inaugural Vision: Heritage Meets Innovation

The event began with an inaugural address by the Secretary, Ministry of Culture, who set the tone by articulating the Government of India’s evolving vision for museum modernization. In her remarks, the Secretary emphasized the need to strike a balance between conserving India’s rich civilizational heritage and embracing forward-looking museology.

She highlighted the government’s mission to:

• Strengthen India's cultural infrastructure

• Foster global partnerships in the museum domain

• Advance capacity-building and skill development for museum professionals

• Encourage the adoption of immersive and smart technologies like augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and AI-driven storytelling

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A Global Exchange of Expertise and Best Practices

The roundtable included interactive sessions and expert panels, enabling participants to share successful case studies and global trends. Topics ranged from:

• Reimagining museum narratives through inclusive and community-driven curation

• Adaptive reuse of heritage buildings and user-centric spatial design

• Leveraging blockchain for digital provenance and secure collections management

• Gamification and immersive experiences to engage Gen Z and millennial visitors

• Open access digital collections and cloud-based archives for educational outreach

Representatives from leading global institutions including those from Europe, North America, Southeast Asia, and Africa participated, ensuring a truly international perspective. This convergence of global thought leadership reinforced India’s role as a serious contributor to the global museum dialogue.

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Institutional Collaboration and Capacity Building

Participants unanimously stressed the importance of building collaborative frameworks among museums, academia, design institutions, and technology partners. This includes:

• Establishing cross-border curator exchange programs

• Creating interdisciplinary research clusters for museology

• Supporting public-private partnerships (PPPs) to fund innovative exhibitions and infrastructure upgrades

• Enhancing training modules for museum professionals through digital platforms

The roundtable called for a national strategy that supports multi-stakeholder engagement to deliver outcomes that are both locally rooted and globally aligned.

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Reinforcing Policy Support for Sustainable Museums

The deliberations identified several priority areas for policy action, including:

• Development of national standards for museum digitization and visitor experience

• Promotion of green and energy-efficient practices in museum buildings

• Greater budgetary allocations for tech-enabled exhibitions and mobile museum units

• Launch of a National Museum Innovation Fund to seed experimental and high-impact projects

These insights will serve as crucial inputs for shaping future initiatives under the Ministry’s ongoing Museum Modernization and Revitalization Program.

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India’s Museum Renaissance: Looking Ahead

The Ministry of Culture’s Museum Roundtable represents more than a policy event—it is a catalyst for a cultural renaissance. With strong international participation and bold domestic aspirations, India is steadily transitioning its museums from static repositories to interactive cultural ecosystems.

As museums across the country increasingly become spaces for dialogue, education, creativity, and digital exploration, the Ministry reaffirmed its commitment to ensuring they remain accessible, inclusive, and future-ready.

This initiative signals a renewed resolve to position India’s museums on the global cultural map, making them vibrant instruments of heritage preservation and public engagement in the 21st century.