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MINISTERIAL FOREWORD
In 2004 the Scottish Executive launched the first sustained programme of support for Scotland's four science centres.
At the same time, to help ensure their long-term viability, we asked the science centres to make fundamental changes to their ways of working. We wanted to see more collaboration, less competition, and more robust business planning.
In the past year a Scottish Science Centres Network has emerged. Working more closely than ever before, the network has embarked on joint education initiatives, and key staff have met regularly to share best practice.
This document has been developed by the network in partnership with the Executive, as the basis for how the centres will work together for the next four years. It is a strategy that will evolve as the network becomes more established, but the fundamentals will remain the same - collaboration, offering a quality experience for more visitors of all ages, delivering across Scotland rather than just locally. As well as showcasing Scotland's proud history of innovation and invention, the science centres need to show the contemporary science in everyday life that we take for granted. Science needs to be seen as fun and exciting, to inspire our children and give them some of the hands-on and interactive experience that isn't always possible in schools.
Ultimately the science centres have the potential to help underpin our knowledge economy, by turning our children and young people on to science, inspiring future generations of scientists, and helping to achieve greater public involvement in the debate about the place of science in society.
To stay relevant to visitors beyond school age the Scottish Science Centres Network needs to show the science behind the latest headlines, engage with the general public through debates and special events, and strive to be world class. Being accessible to people of all ages and backgrounds throughout Scotland will be the key to the centres' long-term future.
This strategy confirms a new way of working for our science centres. They have a unique opportunity to make a real difference, highlighting Scotland's pro-science outlook. It is an opportunity that must not be wasted, and I look forward to seeing how the network develops, to Scotland's benefit, in the future.
Nicol Stephen
Deputy First Minister and Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning
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