Making Sense of Science Cities

issue 92 autumn 2012 NEWSLETTER : CONTENTS >>> David Charles - English Science Making sense of science cities Cities: A new phase in science-based urban strategy? page 03 By Richard Tuffs, Director, European of interest to cities and science communication Regions Research and Innovation actors. Although the PLACES project already Ari Huczkowski - Science: Agent of economic development in Otaniemi involves over seventy cities across Europe, the Network (ERRIN), Brussels, Belgium page 05 third conference of PLACES, which will take place This edition of the Ecsite newsletter opens up a in Turin, Italy, in June 2013 will also be open to Ernesto Páramo - Granada’s science discussion on science cities and cities of scientific other cities and science communication actors city journey culture. As more and more cities develop science that contribute to the concept of a science city or page 07 centres and science museums and organise local a city of scientific culture2. science festivals, more research is examining the Listings reasons for such developments, how they are When designating six Science Cities in England in page 08 financed, and how their performance is evaluated. 2004, the UK government noted that “ ...In a These questions were, in fact, raised during the global economy, the UK’s ability to compete News from Ecsite first conference of the European project PLACES1 depends on our ability to exploit our excellent page 10 which seeks to define cities of scientific culture science base and capture the benefits of and examine the key criteria needed to develop innovation...”. The six Science Cities were to and define such cities. encourage more business investment in research Courses, conferences, competitions page 12 and development, direct research to the needs of This newsletter has invited three contributors from industry and help develop the science and different parts of Europe to shed light on the technology skills needed for a knowledge concept of science cities and we hope this will be economy. Ecsite Executive Office T +32 2 649 7383 F +32 2 647 5098 email: [email protected] www.ecsite.eu Newsletter contributors: Please contact Emma Wadland, Editor [email protected] For information about upcoming issues and how to contribute, see the Ecsite website under News > Newsletters Next issue: Space exploration Birmingham: One of England’s six original Science Cities 01 SCIENCE CITIES The Science City movement is not new and had fertile contacts between 5,000 researchers all been mirrored in some ways by the German within a campus and high-tech industrial park Science City and Science Years initiatives. Science where everyone is a 15-minute walk away. Year 2009 was the tenth and a very special The Otaniemi/Espoo example is all about a Science Year, coinciding with the 60th anniversary strategy to promote physical infrastructure on a of the Federal Republic and the 20th anniversary greenfield site whose goal is encouraging of the fall of the Berlin Wall. This opened the proximity and critical mass to stimulate opportunity to show how science and research research and innovation. policymaking at the regional and local levels. have shaped society and prosperity in Germany The Helsinki and Granada models clearly and illustrated a shift on two fronts: first, from The need for a physical contact point is also illustrate this strategy. The Helsinki example enticing younger people into science to a apparent in the article from Ernesto Páramo, on has its roots in a top-down model, while stronger focus on understanding scientific Parque de las Ciencias, (Science Museum and Granada is more bottom-up, but their processes and technology, and second, shifting Park) in Granada, Spain. Here the emphasis is respective successes can be explained in part from the transfer of knowledge to encouraging on embedding science in a peripheral Spanish by a clear strategy involving multiple farther-reaching dialogue between science and city which, according to Páramo, is more stakeholders over a long period coupled with society3. accustomed to art and poetry than hard resource investment. It will be interesting to science. The success of the Granada project, note if all the English Science Cities stay the which began in 1990, bears witness to the course after losing their development agency need to build strong partnerships and use support and their funding base in the UK’s Defining science cities these relationships to leverage incoming recent regional reforms. The UK is a good example of top-down thinking resources. In the case of Granada, there is also and a choice of six cities in the less developed a strong partnership with citizens; Parque de regions of England (the cities excluded London, las Ciencias’ 15,000 annual entrance pass Cambridge and Oxford) in order to stimulate holders and over 500,000 yearly visitors far the knowledge-driven economy. All six Science exceeds the number estimated (100,000) Cities continue to find life more difficult since during the centre’s formative years. the abolition of regional development agencies in England by the new coalition government. In The success of the science park comes in part this newsletter, David Charles gives us a short from its willingness to build a broad coalition 1 http://www.openplaces.eu/ overview of their activities, arguing that the six across the city and surrounding regions. This 2 For more information, contact [email protected] Science Cities have adapted to local contexts has led to collaborations with other high-tech 3 See the recent judgement in the Aquila case which and strategies. initiatives such as the Health Technology Park. has sparked front page news and editorials regarding These steps are what contribute to Granada’s the advice of Italian scientists on the prediction of an The Finnish example from Ari Huczkowski clout as a science city. earthquake at Aquila in Italy. describes what we might term a ‘science Juliette Kayyem in an International Herald Tribune suburb’ and also illustrates a top-down vision, These three examples from the west, north and editorial argued that the verdict - shocking in the eyes of many in the scientific community - ‘...should be this time linked to a planning and architectural south of Europe are testament to science cities’ understood as a celebration of science. Society has come process based on the concept of proximity as power as municipal and regional economic to believe that science can help citizens make an enricher of science, research and the development agents propelled by research, judgements... society has come to accept the value of innovation paradigm. development and innovation. The science city evidence and deduction...’(26 October 2012). can play a strong role in uniting the people 4 http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/archive/policy/future/ The concept of ‘place-based innovation’ has who, in their collaboration, are the engines of barca_en.htm been supported by leading economists in innovation. “First, any policy for innovation needs to be place- Europe such as Barca4 in Italy with his based. By definition, the knowledge base on which interventions need to be built is local, and the natures of influential report on structural funds and One thing is clear from the three examples: the economic institutions that must be enhanced are regional development (2009), and more success is not a short-term venture. Just as the also strongly linked to places. In tackling unused recently with the Knowledge for Growth great universities of Europe have been built innovative potential, the first step to make is capacity economists led by Dominique Foray,5 who over centuries, so too do science cities need building, both through the training of people and through the promotion of new institutions. Capacity developed the theoretical underpinnings of time to develop strategies and policies. This is building must be geared to places and it must be given ‘smart specialisation’ strategies for regions. where the European project PLACES comes in. adequate time to produce results, as well as being These ideas will be guiding principles for all PLACES involves the Ecsite, Eusea and ERRIN continuously monitored. A place-based approach is the regions receiving structural funds from the networks and seeks to define cities of scientific appropriate way of doing this”. (An agenda for a reformed Cohesion Policy, April 2009, page 130) European Union from 2014-2020. culture by pinpointing the key criteria needed to develop such cities. 5 http://ec.europa.eu/invest-in-research/pdf/download_en/ selected_papers_en.pdf Huczkowski’s article describes a long lead time in developing the Otaniemi district of Espoo as PLACES specifically examines the relationship 6 www.eusea.info a suburb of Helsinki. Proximity is key to the between science and science communication 7 www.errin.eu 02 SCIENCE CITIES English Science Cities: A new phase in science-based urban strategy? By David Charles, European Policies Research Centre, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK Designating Science Cities is relatively easy, but developing and sustaining a strategy over time can be very difficult indeed. In the UK, six Science Cities were designated by central government in 2004-2005, but after eight years, and a change in government, how are they faring? The Science City initiative was something of a surprise package, almost an afterthought in Gordon Brown's (now Prime Minister of the UK) pre-budget report of late 2004. The idea was that six of England’s regions would each have a Science City to help stimulate science-based growth. London and surrounding Oxford and Science City marketing finds its way onto public transit in Newscastle, UK Cambridge were left out of the scheme as they arguably didn’t need such support and might strategies that targeted disadvantaged communities. with a large team focused on science-based already be considered global Science Cities.

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