The highly acclaimed Science Gallery on Dublin\u2019s Pearse Street has been bringing cutting-edge developments in science, technology and the arts to the general public since 2008, through interactive and award-winning exhibits, but the team behind the gallery now plans to replicate that successful model in a further eight countries.<\/p>\n
From Dublin to Bangalore \u2013 Science Gallery model goes global .\u00a0Michael John Gorman, founding director of Science Gallery<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n A donation of \u20ac1m from Google in December 2011 was used to set up the Global Science Gallery Network, which plans to open similar galleries in key cities worldwide. India was chosen alongside the UK, Singapore, the United States, Australia and Russia for the first wave of science hubs to be launched.<\/p>\n And it is not difficult to see why the idea is meeting with some success. Here in Dublin, the gallery has become part of the arty tech and science ecosystem, thanks to its quite unique model, says founding director Michael John Gorman.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we opened in February 2008, one of the reasons was we felt there was a real need to inspire and engage more 15- to 25-year-old young adults around science, technology and engineering, and to get more people considering courses and careers in these areas,\u201d he says. \u201cSince then, I think there is a mind shift that has happened where now people actively seek out science-related events and entertainment.\u201d<\/p>\n He does concede this may be partly attributable to the Brian Cox phenomenon \u2013 the ultracool British particle physicist and TV celebrity \u2013 not to mention figures like Ireland\u2019s own Dara O\u2019Briain, comedian and broadcaster whose background is in mathematics and theoretical physics. Indeed, O\u2019Briain sits on the gallery\u2019s Leonardo Group, 50 \u2018creative\u2019 individuals, scientists, technologists, designers and artists who feed ideas into the exhibitions.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a deliberate decision when we were starting out,\u201d says Gorman. \u201cMany science attractions around the world are focused on very young children and families, and on school groups. We made a decision that we would have a more adult engagement with science technology and the arts. There\u2019s this widespread idea that science is for kids and art is for adults. I don\u2019t know why that exists as a perception but it needs to be challenged.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we were setting up the gallery at the boundary of the university (Trinity College Dublin) it seemed like there was an opportunity for the gallery to be a porous membrane for the university and its researchers, and for all the exciting stuff going on behind the closed doors of labs, to bring that out to the public, and draw the public into interactions with the university. We were determined that we wouldn\u2019t vandalise the science, we wouldn\u2019t dumb it down. There was nothing out there like that.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2012, 300,000 visitors went through the Science Gallery\u2019s doors. \u201cTo put that into perspective, when we\u2019re starting up the gallery back in 2007-2008, our target was 50,000 visitors a year,\u201d says Gorman.<\/p>\n Not only that, but 2012 saw its exhibitions tour to Singapore, Manila, New York and London.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the beginning of June, we had three exhibitions opening in three continents in three weeks,\u201d says Gorman. \u201cWe also ran Ireland\u2019s largest ever TEdx event in September in the Bord G\u00e1is Energy Theatre, which sold out and had 2,000 people listening to people talking about the future of science and technology. In a strange way science has become cool.\u201d<\/p>\n It was because that concept was quite unique that the gallery felt it could replicate the model as a \u2018plug in\u2019 to universities in other key urban centres around the world.<\/p>\n Today, excitement is building in India, where in November the Karnataka State Government signed a memorandum of understanding with Science Gallery, and is launching the feasibility analysis this month. A strong steering committee is already in place, with stakeholders like the Indian Institute of Science, the National Centre for Biological Sciences, and the Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology already involved in the process.<\/p>\n And the Bangalore Science Gallery has other heavyweight backing, with none less than India\u2019s leading businesswoman, self-made entrepreneur Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw a strong supporter of the initiative.<\/p>\n Often cited as India\u2019s richest woman, Mazumdar-Shaw\u2019s $800m business Biocon is one of India\u2019s leading drug companies, with a workforce of some 6,000. She was included in\u00a0Forbes<\/em>\u2019\u00a0The World\u2019s 100 Most Powerful Women<\/em> in 2012 and\u00a0Time<\/em> magazine\u2019s\u00a0The World\u2019s Most Influential People<\/em> in 2010. When I mentioned the Bangalore project on Twitter, to my surprise, she shot off a rapid and enthusiastic response.<\/p>\n Mazumdar-Shaw herself has strong Irish connections. She worked as a trainee manager in a biochemicals company in Cork back in the 1970s, before starting Biocon in the garage of a rented home in Bangalore in 1978, with seed capital of an equivalent $200 in today\u2019s money. In 2001, Ireland\u2019s Minister for Health at the time, Mary Harney, appointed Mazumdar-Shaw to the board of Science Foundation Ireland. Today she is Irish consul general in Bangalore.<\/p>\n She, too, tells me Bangalore was the obvious choice, as a \u201cleading hub of information technology, biotechnology and nanotechnology, not only in India, but in Asia.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Science Gallery project is a welcome and timely addition to Bangalore\u2019s growing stature as India\u2019s science and technology capital,\u201d she says. \u201cIt provides an ideal platform for interactive and multidisciplinary learning and knowledge creation.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cConceptually, the Science Gallery is the perfect format for advancing scientific education that has a mindset of explorative research,\u201d she continues.\u00a0\u201cAs the Irish consul general in Bangalore, I am delighted to see this meaningful and path breaking bond between the two countries being catalysed by Trinity College.\u201d<\/p>\n Science Gallery is funded by a combination of Trinity College Dublin support, Government support, corporate partnerships, foundations, philanthropy and earned income.<\/p>\n \u201cThese supporters allow us to keep entrance to Science Gallery free of charge, which was a key principle from the outset,\u201d says Gorman.<\/p>\n The earned or operational revenue has grown to about a quarter of its funding, says Gorman, thanks to the growing success of the caf\u00e9, the retail space, corporate hire and of course the successful touring exhibitions. During the financial year 2010\/2011, Science Gallery increased its annual turnover by 20pc from 2010 to \u20ac2.2m.<\/p>\n Back in Bangalore, Gorman says the feasibility analysis should be completed in April, and shortly thereafter the gallery should move to the development stage, but the UK is likely to pip them to the post. Closer to home, Science Gallery is in advanced discussions with King’s College, London, regarding the setting up of a Science Gallery on its Guy\u2019s Hospital campus there, scheduled to open in 2015, close to the Tate modern and the Shard building \u2013 a suitably edgy location for a very cool concept.<\/p>\n A version of this interview first appeared in<\/em> The Sunday Times\u00a0on 27 January<\/em><\/p>\n source: http:\/\/www.SiliconRepublic.com \/ Home> Innovation \/ by Ann O’Dea \/ January 30th, 2013<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Having made science \u2018cool\u2019 at home, Dublin\u2019s Science Gallery has global plans that are taking it as far afield as Bangalore, writes Ann O\u2019Dea. The highly acclaimed Science Gallery on Dublin\u2019s Pearse Street has been bringing cutting-edge developments in science, technology and the arts to the general public since 2008, through interactive and award-winning exhibits, … Continue reading From Dublin to Bangalore \u2013 Science Gallery model goes global<\/span> ![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.bangalorefirst.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/DublinBF31jan13.jpg\" "\\"DublinBF31jan13\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\nThe Brian Cox phenomenon<\/h3>\n
Science Gallery and India<\/h3>\n