City of Science: Bremen won the day
Dieser Artikel in Deutsch
Competitions are ten a penny. Unless they have the "right" profile, they are null and void. When the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft first announced the competition "City of Science" in May 2003, no one was sure whether the signal they were giving would be understood and taken up or whether it had even come at the right time.
The signal was: science can be a boon to a town's location if it receives targeted political support and if this takes place in close collaboration with scientific institutions, local companies, and cultural institutions as well as through intensive dialogue with the population. The overwhelming response was in favour of the competition idea. By December 2003, 37 towns had participated with great enthusiasm. Many went well beyond fulfilling the formal requirements of the competition and nearly all of them used it for a media offensive. Thus, even before the jury had had a chance to look at a single proposal, everyone was talking about the competition.
In February 2004, four towns were nominated for the last round: Bremen, Dresden, Göttingen, and Tübingen. The "losers" reacted constructively: it had been worth participating in any case because new synergies had evolved, they were definitely intending to realize several of the projects planned in the proposal - and they were certainly intending to participate again in the coming year. Another important achievement for the competition.
"The winner is …" - before this sentence could be uttered on the late afternoon of 12 March 2004, excitement had been mounting constantly since the early morning. "The last time I felt like this was when I was taking my exams", joked the Lord Mayor of Bremen, Henning Scherf. The Lord Mayors of each of the four towns nominated and a prominent representative of business and science came to present their concepts to the jury. A number of television crews spent the entire day covering the events leading up to the Award Ceremony.
In the end, it was Bremen that won the day. Just like its main rival, Tübingen, the town is committed to developing manifold sustainable activities and, moreover, is doing so on the basis of a vastly less favourable starting point. The jury's assessment corresponded with the signal which was so important to the Stifterverband, too: science can be a fundamental boon not only to the traditional major locations but to the location of any town at all.
| Angela Lindner, Press officer in the Stifterverband | 19.05.2004 |
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