Looking back: City of Science 2011
In 2011, Mainz was awarded the title "City of Science". The Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft organized the competition for the "City of Science" from 2005 to 2012 (except 2010). The title was awarded exclusively for one year. In Mainz, more than 1,000 events during the Year of Science invited visitors to experiment.
More than 300 projects and 1,000 individual events, spectacular major events, enthusiastic sponsors, and tremendous interest among the population—that sums up the year as "City of Science 2011" in the capital of Rhineland-Palatinate.
Science you can touch, experience and participate in
E = MZ² – the formula adapted for Mainz, slogan of the "City of Science," unleashed energy in 2011. Interested parties were able to see this for themselves at numerous events. Outstanding examples of hands-on science, where visitors could experience and participate, included the big "construction site party" at the opening in January 2011, the "science market" during the "Science Summer," and the grand finale in December 2011 with a "Best of" event.
Lighthouse projects
The "lighthouse projects" were particularly impressive, including:
- "Spektrale," the major summer exhibition on light and color organized by the Mainz Science Alliance, which attracted over 20,000 visitors to the Rheingoldhalle.
- "skop" – the communication laboratory for science and design, for which students from the University of Applied Sciences left their "ivory tower" and allowed visitors to look over their shoulders in the market halls.
- The "zeit.fenster" cubes on archaeology and history, which shaped the cityscape and made science "tangible" for the public.
Projects with charisma
However, the "City of Science" year was much more than a series of individual projects and events. As Prof. Dr. Andreas Schlüter from the Stifterverband der Deutschen Wissenschaft (Donors' Association for the Promotion of Sciences and Humanities in Germany) emphasized when awarding the title to Mainz, several factors spoke in favor of the Rhineland-Palatinate capital, above all its long tradition of science and science communication.
The state capital Mainz justified the award, on the one hand through the strong participation of its citizens, and on the other hand through the durability and sustainability of the projects generated during the "City of Science" year.
Of particular importance here are the "Transferstelle Bildung" (Education Transfer Center) and the "Transfercafé" (Transfer Café), two newly created interfaces that bring together different disciplines from science, business, and society—and will continue to exist beyond the Year of Science. The same applies to the "Showcases of Knowledge," the museums of Mainz, such as the Gutenberg Museum or the Natural History Museum, which not only received a new symbolic "showcase," but also contractually established a fruitful cooperation with Mainz University of Applied Sciences.
The state capital of Mainz took the lead in the "City of Science" initiative, together with the Ministry of Education, Science, Continuing Education, and Culture and the Mainz Science Alliance, an association of Mainz-based scientific institutions founded in 2009.
Its chairman, university president Prof. Dr. Gerhard Muth, remains confident: The Year of Science has unleashed synergies, initiated collaborations, and will continue to act as a catalyst beyond the year itself – Mainz remains the "City of Science."
