The parts,
connected.
A defined research field linking cultural heritage and creative industries with skilled production, design, technology, regional development and markets.
Eleven connected research areas.
ACA connects cultural heritage, craftsmanship and the cultural and creative industries with design, fashion and textiles, research, technology, innovation, regional development, skills and competitiveness.
Mapping 2026 shows why these areas must operate as a connected field: Australian capability is distributed across portfolios, institutions, places and production systems that are rarely measured or supported together.
Cultural heritage
↗Living heritage, conservation, repair and the cultural authority through which knowledge remains active.
02Craftsmanship
↗The demonstrable quality of making arising when learned and embodied knowledge is applied through skilled human judgement at consequential stages.
03Creative industries
↗Enterprises and institutions that translate cultural and material capability into work, products and public value.
04Design
↗Design as the bridge between materials, methods, users, manufacturing and markets.
05Fashion & textiles
↗Australian fibre, processing, cloth, apparel, industrial textiles, verification and procurement.
06Research
↗Evidence, classification, material research, testing and collaborative knowledge production.
07Technology
↗Tools, equipment, digital fabrication, persistent identifiers, product data and advanced production.
08Innovation
↗Applied work that converts knowledge into better processes, products and productive capability.
09Regional development
↗Place-based production, regional centres, shared infrastructure and resilient supply chains.
10Skills & transmission
↗Learning, work, advanced practice, succession and endangered-craft monitoring.
11Competitiveness
↗Verified origin, distinctive capability, procurement, trade and international market access.
International collaboration.
Connect Australian cultural heritage, materials and production capability with international research, skills, standards and markets.
Open international collaboration