Dublin wins bid to become European City of Science in 2012

DUBLIN has won the bid to become the European City of Science for 2012 when it will host one of the world’s largest science events.

It beat competition from several cities, including Vienna, which was the favourite to play host.

The title and a range of events during the year are expected to attract 8,000 delegates from around the world and 50,000 visitors to an Olympics of European research type event in July 2012.

Dublin put in a huge amount of work in support of its bid and got the backing of 18 eminent European and international Nobel laureates and many scientists, business and public figures from over a dozen countries. These patrons were under the chairmanship of former President Mary Robinson, who has stressed the importance of promoting the role of women in science.

The bid was put together by a steering committee chaired by the country’s chief scientific adviser, Professor Paddy Cunningham who worked with Dublin’s Lord Mayor Eibhlin Byrne and Science Minister Jimmy Devins.

The business and industry was fully on board with 90 leading companies signing up as supporters. This was matched by the academic and scientific community through the Royal Irish Academy, universities and organisations.

Prof Cunningham said the team had left no stone unturned and went about bidding from day one with great energy, vision and professionalism.

“We are simply delighted to have won. But while we are utterly serious about science, our event philosophy is one of science serving society. We want the citizens of Dublin and Ireland to get involved,” said Prof Cunningham.

A delighted Aidan Gilligan, who took a leave of absence from the EU’s Joint Research Centre to pursue the bid as senior executive, said: “We were fully aware that Vienna is a fantastic city with a renowned scientific pedigree and a lot to offer. But we maximised our strengths and thanks to all the support we received, we won out.”

The international organisation, Euroscience, is behind the city of science concept. It’s aim is to construct a Europe of science from the bottom up by including citizens as well as professionals.

They represent scientists of all disciplines including humanities and social sciences drawn from institutions including universities and research institutes and including business and industry.

Euroscience vice president Prof Gail Cardew said the decision was a hard one but they were impressed with Dublin’s clear vision on opening the event to the world and the lengths they went to include international partners, including industry.