YOCOCU 2008 was the first International meeting focused on Cultural Heritage completely devoted to the youth. It was an important occasion to share knowledge and expertise anda clear example of how strong is the willingness of the youth to be present, to be visible and to compete in the sector.

Held on November 24-25, 2008, launched by the Italian Association of Conservation Scientists (IACS),  organized during the week of the European Scientific Culture in collaboration with the Department of Pharmacy, the Chemistry Museum of Rome University “La Sapienza” and the Italian Association of Archaeologists andupported  by the Italian Society of Chemistry and the company “Donna Luciana”.

           The event recorded an unexpected echo with a peak of 140 participants among youth, professionals, seniors and scholars.During the meeting a special attention was given to labor strategies, to the capital investments and to the general policy of the sector in Italy.

The extension of these topics at International level and the improvement of social occasions for the exchange (ideas, work activities and….) are the objectives of the next edition (2010) of YOCOCU.

YOCOCU 2008 was organized as a series of oral presentations with the participation of 58 authors, 11 from different Countries. Considering the high number of proposals for oral presentations, it was decided to give an opportunity to everybody, at least, with a Poster participation. 28  posters were exposed and commented by the authors in the Chemistry Museum, close to the conference room.

During the two days meeting, special emphasis was given to topics related to the sectors policy, stake holder activity and labor opportunities thanks to a speech of a number of International Scholars invited as key speakers always followed by a very active and exiting discussion.

The Organizing Committee is pleased to affirm that all meeting objectives were reached and the strong invitation of the participants to renew the event periodically, is for us a very positive outcome. 

Finally, the Organizing Committee accepting the pleasure the invitation and knowing the responsibility for this challenge has decided to repeat the event in two years.

A warm thanks to all the authors, to the Scientific Committee members, to the speakers; a special thank is addressed to the key note speakers, who added further prestige by their presence to this event, built by youth for youth