Bergamo, Sunday, October 15, 2017 – The 15th edition of BergamoScienza, the science communication festival that explored for 16 days the new frontiers of science—from neuroscience to nanotechnology, from basic research to astrophysics, from Artificial Intelligence to genetic engineering—supported once again this year by Fondazione Pesenti, ended with 153,141 attendees.
The success, which over fifteen years has made the event a must for those always seeking new knowledge, was celebrated on the Donizetti stage with a small story that captures the spirit of BergamoScienza.
In the garden of the state kindergarten Madre Teresa di Calcutta in Valbrembo, a wheat patch had been sown; at the end of the cycle, the children were supposed to rub all the ears of wheat between their small hands, one after another. But last year their teacher, at the festival, was impressed by the machines that the students from the Abf/Cfp institute of Trescore Balneario presented during “School in the Square” and asked them for help to solve the threshing problem. The students accepted the challenge and designed a small bicycle that, through movement, powers two cylinders that separate the chaff from the wheat. BergamoScienza decided to reward the two schools for their collaboration, which will continue on other projects, hoping that this example will become contagious to spread curiosity and knowledge but also values such as empathy, trust, and cooperation.
The festival has always stood out for its focus on young people and their involvement in organizing and preparing the two weeks of events. This year, 58 schools participated, and about 3,000 volunteers were involved in managing workshops and conferences, coordinated by the 36 members of the BergamoScienza Youth Committee.
Of this year’s 153,141 attendees: 15,862 attended conferences; 5,775 attended shows; 93,951 visited exhibitions and workshops; and 20,214 (of whom 2,974 participated in the hand hygiene relay) took part in side activities. Additionally, there were 17,339 streaming connections to watch the live events.
Over the years, alongside participation, the program has also grown. From just a few events concentrated in two days in the first year, it has expanded to this year’s calendar of over 200 appointments, featuring scientists and scholars from the most prestigious academic environments. However, the heart of the festival has remained unchanged: to tackle the most urgent contemporary issues and the latest scientific topics using simple and comprehensible language for everyone.
The rich program of events was also guaranteed this year thanks to the network of alliances and collaborations that the BergamoScienza Association, promoter and organizer of the festival, has been able to establish with the local area and its key players, both public and private, who contributed to the success of the festival.
The activities of the BergamoScienza Association continue beyond the festival: with Science TV (www.sciencetv.it), an accessible, easy-to-use, and interactive scientific database where one can freely rewatch the talks from this and past editions of the festival, and the Bergamo Science Center, which will continue throughout the year to promote outreach and deepening through numerous initiatives open to students, citizens, and many science enthusiasts.
www.bergamoscienza.it