Waterford has secured EU funding to develop as a European City of Scientific Culture, a move that is hoped will strengthen the location’s appeal to inward investors and recognise existing scientific research and communications activity.
To attain the designation, the Centre for the Advancement of Learning of Maths, Science and Technology (Calmast) at Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT), is partnering the local authorities in Waterford city and county.
The overall scheme at European level is funded through the European Union Framework 7 (FP7) Science in Society programme, according to a WIT statement yesterday.
Promoted as a four-year European project called “Places”, the European City of Scientific Culture programme is a partnership between Ecsite – the European Network of Science Centres and Museums; the European Science Events Association and European Regions Research and Innovation Network.
Dr Sheila Donegan of the Calmast, an award-winning science outreach centre at WIT, yesterday said: “The programme at European level is all about how we stitch science into culture more widely.”