Opening Ceremony and
Keynote Address: Creating the Future
by Jennifer Corriero

Connected and interactive: the World Congress in Toronto begins

The 5th Science Centre World Congress “took it global” at its opening session as more than 400 delegates from 51 countries had the opportunity to interact via webcast with youth leaders in Argentina, China, and Egypt.

After heartfelt welcomes and warm wishes from local, provincial, and federal officials, Jennifer Corriero, co-founder of TakingITGlobal (TIG), made a vibrant and enthusiastic presentation about the “importance of creating opportunities to engage youth in engaging youth.”

TakingITGlobal is a non-profit organization that fosters cross-cultural dialogue, strengthening youth leadership capacity and increasing awareness and involvement in global issues through the use of technology. Founded in 2000, the network has grown to over 200,000 members. Its website, takingitglobal.org, receives over 40 million hits each month. Corriero said TIG tries to provide youth with support and motivation by offering networking opportunities and information, encouraging them to form constructive partnerships, and helping them mobilize and organize real world actions.

The role of science centres in reaching, engaging, and empowering youth in all parts of the world—not just the highly developed cosmopolitan centres—was one of the greatest challenges identified by both conference delegates and the international youth participants.

“It’s important to maximize the existing functions to larger audiences,” said Wu Yang by webcast from China. “Future science centres should be less centralized so that people in less developed cities and countries can have access with the help of information and communication technologies.”

Yang stressed that it was not necessary to invest huge sums in building more local science centres because online opportunities offer the possibility to expand the reach of existing facilities by creating partnerships with small community organizations and schools, by linking science centres at the national level and, ultimately, by creating links across cultures and national boundaries. 

Corriero concurred: “It’s obvious that big cities are the places that are most powered and most connected; we need to push ourselves to design and create inclusive, participatory mechanisms that can reach those who are most vulnerable and isolated.”

Maged Hassan, a TIG coordinator from Egypt, agreed that the digital divide is growing at the same time that global challenges are becoming more acute. Young people are anxious to meet these challenges, he said. “But to do so, we have to talk about global reach and the reach of science and knowledge centres. Outreach to underprivileged communities is important, and it’s vital that science centres give visitors a chance to evolve and share their views about how science can be used to confront major challenges like global warming.”

From Buenos Aires, Argentina, Damian Profeta stressed the importance of building on the strengths of science centres. They are a great resource, he said, to inspire and to create interactive opportunities for learning and sharing. Science centres are helpful for raising interest about science in young people because they provide opportunities to learn that emphasize fun and creativity. “Finally, we need to work together—communities, NGOs, science centres—to confront global challenges by harnessing creativity and knowledge, to connect people, to teach, to learn, and to have fun doing it.”

Download a PDF of Jennifer Corriero's keynote slides.

Download a PDF of the longer summary of this session.