**Proceedings of the 2019 iPRES Conference** **iPRES** is the premier and longest-running conference series on digital preservation. Since 2004, we have had annual iPRES conferences in rotation around the globe on four continents. ***The 16th edition of the iPRES conference was celebrated in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, from 16 through 20 September 2019!*** The conference ([ipres2019.org][1]) brought together over 400 scientists, students, researchers, archivists, librarians, service providers, vendors and other experts to share recent developments and innovative projects in a wide variety of topics in digital preservation from strategy to implementation, and from international and local initiatives. Year on year the debate and research profiled at iPRES have moved digital preservation from a technology driven niche specialism of experts to a global challenge with the community to match. ***Dutch Digital Heritage Network*** iPRES 2019 was hosted by the Dutch Digital Heritage Network (DDHN) , a collaborative effort of an increasing number of network partners: museums, archives, libraries, research institutes and other parties from the heritage sector. Heritage collections include a wealth of information that is of interest for newly developed digital applications, for example all information about an artist such as Vincent van Gogh, or the historical development of a location such as the Amsterdamse IJ. The objective is to make this fully available and permanently accessible. The Dutch Digital Heritage Network has established a national strategy and is working on ways to increase the ‘visibility, usability and sustainability’ of digital heritage collections. The ultimate goal is to develop a network of common facilities, services and knowledge base. The DDHN considered it a great honour to be the Host of the 16th iPRES conference as the conference and the Network are all about preserving our digital heritage for the future. ***Conference Theme*** The general Conference Theme was Eye on the Horizon, aiming to broaden the voices and approaches participating in the conference, reflecting the venue and looking forward to the future. The future of digital collections but also the future of the iPRES community. This main theme was divided into five sub-themes: - Collaboration: a Necessity, an Opportunity or a Luxury? - Designing and Delivering Sustainable Digital Preservation - Exploring New Horizons - Building Capacity, Capability and Community - The Cutting Edge: Technical Infrastructure and Implementation ***Venue*** The 16th iPRES conference took us to the historical grounds of a remarkable city where vessels once set sail to explore new lands. The organizers welcomed the international digital preservation community in the striking building of the EYE Film Museum on the northern bank of the IJ river in Amsterdam. We explored the state of the art in digital preservation and set our Eye on the Horizon. ***Important dates*** The conference was fully booked and has taken place between **16 and 20 September** 2019. ***Conference Programme*** See https://osf.io/uft8q/ for the iPRES 2019 Programme overview. See https://vimeo.com/362496808 for a recording of the opening session. See https://vimeo.com/362497445 for a recording of the closing session. The **peer reviewed conference programme** included sessions of paper presentations, panels, posters, demonstrations and hackathons, preceded by workshops and tutorials on Monday. We received a total of 148 submissions this year and were able to accept 99 of them after a peer review process, with an overall acceptance percentage of 66%. In addition to the peer reviewed programme, iPRES 2019 also had a **non-peer reviewed programme** in which we introduced two novelties. The Great Digital Preservation Bake-Off on Wednesday and Thursday, and the Professional Visits on Friday. After the successful Digital Preservation System Showcase sessions held at the iPRES conferences in Melbourne and Chapel Hill, the demonstrations on software solutions have returned to iPRES as the **Great Digital Preservation Bake-Off**! The Bake-Off was the chance for vendors and developers to present – and curious digital preservation minds to inquire – how tools fare in comparable situations. The Bake-Off consisted of a number of showcase sessions covering both open source and commercial tools, which were divided into two categories: full end-to-end solutions and content or workflow specific software. Eight vendors and thirteen developers demonstrated preservation tools and implementations of tools and services in front of a critical audience in a fine setting. Vendors demonstrated their solutions based on a test data-set the conference organizers created for them. By providing a test data-set, demonstrations became more comparable. Back on the programme in 2019 was the **Ad Hoc session** with 14 short presentations of five minutes each and one digital preservation game. Another novelty of iPRES 2019 was the introduction of the **Hackathon**. A hackathon is a hands on experiment in collaborative learning. It provides a space throughout the conference to rethink, retool, or develop new methods. This is where the early-adopters and true pioneers get together. The iPRES 2019 Hackathon started on Tuesday and went on until Thursday as an in-depth and extended version of a workshop and together with other participants and guided by two teams of experienced professionals the hackathons engaged in collaborative work. The results of the work of the two Hackathon teams were presented on Thursday. ***iPRES 2020*** Thank you! The next iPRES is in Beijing, China, 21 – 24 September 2020. ***Relive iPRES 2019?*** Do you want to relive iPRES 2019? Check out the [iPRES 2019 flickr photo gallery][2] for the best conference moments. You can add your pics to the pool via [dropevent][3]. Or check out the [#ipres2019 twitter storm][4]. The Best Tulip Photo Award (a trophy and a certificate) goes to Jon Tilbury of Preservica for [this photo][5]! Special thanks to the Dutch Digital Heritage Network for sponsoring this award! **iPRES Interest Group** We also want to set your eye on the Horizon and invite you to sign up for the iPRES interest group, receive updates and share your feedback if you are involved with the digital preservation community and have an interest in informing and/or tracking the efforts of the iPRES Working Group. Community members are invited to subscribe to DIGITAL-PRESERVATION-IPRES@JISCMAIL.AC.UK here: https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=DIGITAL-PRESERVATION-IPRES. [1]: https://ipres2019.org [2]: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ipres2019/albums/with/72157710955726716 [3]: https://dropevent.com/ipres2019 [4]: https://twitter.com/hashtag/ipres2019?src=hashtag_click [5]: https://www.instagram.com/p/BxKu_12HLer/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link