ESOF 2014: Science building bridges

Between the 21st and the 26th June, the team went to Copenhagen to attend ESOF2014. This key event in the world of scientific and technical culture gave us the opportunity to meet some great people and to introduce the European scientific community to Science & You. Looking back over a week full of discoveries.

Euroscience Open Forum (ESOF) is a scientific event held every other year in a different European town. The 2014 edition took place in the Carlsberg quarter in Copenhagen, and marked the 10^th anniversary of the event initiated by Euroscience, a partner association of Science & You with the aim of bringing together scientists, the business world and the general public to promote science and technology. The event offered a highly specialised programme and a festival, “Science in the city”, which drew in the general public through fun attractions promoting scientific expertise and innovation, and their links with society. The central theme, “Science building bridges”, demonstrated the commitment with this edition to create links on several levels between science and society, between countries, between disciplines, but also between research and industry, as the President of the European Commission, José-Manuel Barroso, emphasised during the opening plenary.

The 5000 attendees were able to follow a rich and varied programme centred on science, public policies on research, and the links between science and the business world. Variety was a key characteristic of the conference and workshop themes. In this way, attendees were able to reflect on topics such as health, neuroscience, sustainable development, teaching, or the link between science, society and citizenship. ESOF2014 also gave pride of place to popularisation, with a programme specifically aimed at the general public during the Science in the City Festival. Getting a 3D scan of your own head, attending a scientific slam, travelling through time to 2067 with a role play making you reflect on the future and scientific and technological progress… A great edition, enabling over  5000 attendees from university, business and political spheres to engage in dialogue and think over the present and future stakes of research in Europe.  The next great gathering for science and technical culture will be Science & You, from the 1^st to the 6^th of June 2015 in Nancy, followed by the next ESOF in Manchester, from the 22^nd to the 26^th July 2016!