Euroscience and the Representation of the Catalan Government in Brussels presented the Euroscience Open Forum 2008 (ESOF2008) to be held in Barcelona and the nomination of Barcelona as the Euroscience “Europe’s City of Science for 2008”. The presentation was held on February 9, 2006, at 12:00, at the premises of the Catalan Government Office in Brussels. Details of the Barcelona proposal and initial plans for ESOF2008 were presented, and the competition for ESOF 2010 was announced.

Euroscience Press Release

Euroscience - the European association for the promotion of science and technology -today announced that Barcelona has been selected to host the prestigious Euroscience Open Forum (ESOF) event in 2008 and, thus, deserves the tribute as Europe’s “City of Science” for that year.

Barcelona fought off very strong and competitive bids from Genoa and Naples for the privilege to host this event which is the principle gathering of scientists from all disciplines (from the humanities to nuclear physics and astronomy), politicians, journalists and those members of the public with an interest in research. ESOF is designed as an open meeting to discuss burning issues affecting science and technology, and to raise the awareness of these issues within the public arena. This biennial event provides the European platform for an “Assembly” of science and is accompanied by an outreach programme in the chosen city, region, and country with links to similar outreach activities in other parts of Europe.

Dr Peter Tindemans, Chair of the Euroscience Selection Committee, said “The choice of a city to host ESOF2008 was extremely difficult because of the three strong bids which we received. However, the Selection Committee was impressed with the thoroughness of the Barcelona bid, the strength of local, regional and national support for the event and the committed leadership shown by the bid organiser, Professor Enric Banda. Barcelona offers excellent facilities for such a major event coupled with the attractiveness of the city and its good communications to all the major European travel hubs. I look forward to working with the local organisers and have every confidence that Barcelona will provide an excellent venue for ESOF”.

ESOF is modelled on well established similar events organised by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The first, ESOF2004, was held in Stockholm and Munich is the host city for the 2006 event. ESOF2004 attracted just under 2000 attendees and by 2008, it is expected that the meeting will have doubled in size.

Professor Enric Banda, who has led the Barcelona bid, said, “I am very happy that Barcelona has been chosen to host ESOF2008. It is a great honour and reflects on the support which we have received at all levels from the City, from the Government of Catalonia and from the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science as well as from local industry and, especially, media organisations. It also reflects on the strong scientific traditions which we have in Barcelona and in Catalonia. I very much look forward to working with Euroscience to make this a really significant occasion and I shall also be drawing on the valuable experience gained by the organisers of ESOF2004 in Stockholm and the 2006 event in Munich.”

Details of the Barcelona proposal and initial plans for ESOF2008 will be unveiled at a Press Conference to be held in Brussels at the end of January 2006, when representatives from Euroscience, Barcelona and the Stockholm and Munich events will be present.

For further information from Euroscience, please contact Dr Peter Tindemans (peter@tindemans.demon.nl) or Tony Mayer (Tel: 00.33.6.33.74.81.65 , tonymayer@noos.fr). For further information from Barcelona, please contact Professor Enric Banda (Tel: 00.34.93.268.77.18 , enric.banda@fcr.es).

Euroscience was founded in 1997 as a ‘grassroots’ movement open to research professionals, science administrators, policy-makers, teachers, PhD students, post-docs, engineers, industrialists, and in general to any citizen interested in science and technology and its links with society. It represents European scientists of all disciplines (including social sciences and the humanities), in the public sector, universities, research institutes as well as business and industry.

It is based in Strasbourg and has more than 2000 members across 40 European countries, working through many local sections.

For more information see: http://www.euroscience.org/

Euroscience Open Forum is a biennial event which seeks to showcase European achievements right across the scientific spectrum and serves as an open forum for debates on science-related issues and also as a showcase for European and International research. Through ESOF, researchers and scientists, as well as the general public, are provided with an adequate platform for exchanging views and discussing the challenges and consequences of scientific developments around the world. The Euroscience Open Forum thus promotes, fosters and maintains contacts between associations, professional societies and industry, both within Europe and worldwide. Finally, in the political field, it assists policy makers in consulting relevant scientists on issues affecting society, including the governance of science.

For more information about ESOF2006 that was held in Munich, July 15th-19th, 2006.
See: http://www.esof2006.org/

Professor Enric Banda is a native of Girona and is a research geophysicist of international repute. He is currently Director of the Catalan Research and Innovation Foundation in Barcelona. He was previously Research Professor of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, CSIC (1987) and Director of its Earth Sciences Institute in Barcelona in 1988; General Secretary of the National R+D Plan (1994); Secretary of State for Universities and Research (1995-96); Secretary General of the European Science Foundation (1998-2003). He has also participated in several working groups, commissions and expert meetings of the European Community and the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science and is a senior member of the European Research Advisory Board (EURAB).He has also been Vice-President of the European Geophysical Society, elected member of the Academia Europaea (1992), member of numerous scientific societies and editorial boards of different science journals and editor-in-chief of Tectonophycics and European Editor of Geophysical Research Letters (American Geophysical Union).

Have a look at Enric Banda's letter (pdf - 38.3KB)