Southeast Asia is home to astonishing heritage collections. They bear testimony to the region’s rich diversity and are a powerful resource for education, creativity, social coherence and well-being. However, these collections are also susceptible to the effects of globalization, economic pressures, knowledge-based inequalities, climate change, and disasters and conflicts – all of which challenge the realization of their full potential and successful transmission to future generations. ICCROM’s regional initiative for sustaining and promoting heritage collections in Southeast Asia – CollAsia – addresses these issues through innovative capacity-building and networking approaches.