On Thursday, 27 May 2021 at 10 a.m., a press briefing about the University of Silesia and the City of Katowice endeavours to be the European City of Science in 2024 took place.
Marcin Krupa, PhD, the President of Katowice, and Prof. Ryszard Koziołek, the Rector of the University of Silesia, met with the media representatives.
“It is worth noting that we are the first city to compete for this title in the Central and Eastern part of Europe,” says the President of Katowice. According to Prof. Ryszard Koziołek “after endeavours for the European Capital of Culture, endeavours for the European City of Science is probably the biggest project ahead of us.”
“We are at the first stage, that is, talks, during which we could present the character and uniqueness of the region as an academic region. We could show what science and education can do for the just transformation of this region and I think we managed to show that the great urban units of old Europe do not need this title so much. They have already done and have a lot of things. It’s Silesia, an agglomeration, a region that needs this strong influence of good education and science in order to smoothly move from a civilisation model based on heavy industry into what we call intelligent industries. I have a belief that science and education should become a new industry of Silesia,” states the Rector of the University of Silesia.
“Katowice consequently and step-by-step builds its brand in Europe,” points out Marcin Krupa, PhD, the President of Katowice. “In the areas of culture or business tourism, we are a significant and recognisable point on the map of Europe, as a UNESCO City of Music and a host of such events as COP24 or WUF11. Unfortunately, until now, Katowice is not talked about as a city of science from a global perspective. But we have 15 universities, which offer education on Economy, Humanities, Medical, Art, and Sport study programmes. Therefore, we accepted the Rector’s initiative to compete for the 2024 European City of Science. We have some experience regarding endeavours for the 2016 European Capital of Culture; although we did not win this title, those actions have become a social impulse for the development of our city. Apart from universities and over 50,000 students, we do our best to provide the science to a broad group of recipients. This year, the University of Silesia will organise the 5th Silesian Science Festival. In 2019, the Silesian Science Festival was the best science communication event in Europe. Importantly, during our endeavours for becoming the European City of Science, we want to join forces; therefore, we talk about cooperation with the rectors of universities in Katowice, the Marshal of the Śląskie Province, and the Chair of the Metropolis GZM. We want to show that Katowice is the heart of a 2-million metropolis and all cities comprising the Metropolis GZM have a lot of interesting things to offer when it comes to science. We want this process of joining forces to become formal. In June, we will establish a Science Committee of our project, so the representatives of the world of science and government work for the possibly best application. We hope that we will be the host and together we can work on the entire year’s event programme. If we manage to, all of us will win, the city, universities, and mostly the city residents.
The press briefing took place in front of the CINiBA.
