Irish Government, industry and academia join forces to back Dublin’s bid to host European City of Science 2012

The Lord Mayor Councillor Eibhlin Byrne and Dr Jimmy Devins TD Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation today (Wednesday 30^th July 2008) gave their full support at The Mansion House to Dublin's ongoing bid to host Euroscience Open Forum (ESOF) 2012. The bid is being put together by a high-level committee of science and industry stakeholders drawn from all sectors of society under the stewardship of the Chief Scientific Adviser, Professor Patrick Cunningham.

Dublin’s aim is to attract 8,000 Irish and international delegates while engaging 50,000 citizens in a truly Olympics of European Research style event in July 2012. The third edition of this bi-annual festival was recently held from 18 – 22 July in Barcelona where 5,000 participants took part. Dublin’s Bid Committee held a range of highly successful visibility-raising activities. The deadline for proposals is end September. Vienna is the only other declared candidate at this stage with Copenhagen also expressing interest. There were seven candidates in 2006 for the 2010 edition with Turin being selected.

The Lord Mayor said: "In 2012 it will be 80 years since Ernest Walton made the ground-breaking discovery which won him the Nobel Prize for Physics. If Dublin was successful in becoming the European City of Science, it would be a wonderfully fitting way to celebrate the achievements of Ireland’s only Nobel winning scientist. Our city is also a fitting venue for 2012 because a huge number of the world's top ten and internet companies such as Google, Intel and Microsoft, choose Dublin as their European headquarters so there is a very strong foundation in place. Dublin already has some impressive science facilities and I’d urge the whole of the Country to get behind this bid.”

Minister Devins added, ''a successful bid will provide a timely platform to showcase the best of science and research being carried out here across all disciplines, whether it is led by indigenous or international partners. We will, at that stage, be towards the end of our massive NDP investment of €8.2bn in R&D with a spotlight on dividends in terms of infrastructure and human capital, innovation and commercialisation. As a gateway to the world, we will also be able to draw on an unrivalled network of international experts to help EuroScience take ESOF to the next level. It is also a unique opportunity at home to promote the value of investing in science with true consequences for the daily life of the citizen, while showcasing modern Dublin to our European and international partners”.

Chief Scientific Adviser Patrick Cunningham concluded, “Preparations are going well and everything is falling into place. We are confident that we have right ideas, the right people and the right facilities. We are making a strong case for Dublin that will be hard to ignore”.