What follows is a summary of a presentation delivered by Robert Firmhofer, President of Ecsite, at the Ecsite Annual General Meeting, 1 June 2012, Toulouse, France. Here, he gives a progress report of the main objectives outlined in Ecsite’s four-year Strategic Plan 2011-2015.

Read the Strategic Plan here: www.ecsite.eu/about/governance/strategic-plan h2. Objective: Strengthen the brand of Ecsite to signify its powerful voice in science communication

Horizon 2020 Amendments Committee

Ecsite’s Goal: reinforce the position of Ecsite through personal contacts with high-level people from European Parliament, European Commission, global organizations

The Horizon 2020 Committee has submitted Amendments to the last version of Horizon 2020 to the Rapporteur at the European Parliament. You can view the proposed amendments and accompanying letter here: www.ecsite.eu/news_and_events/news/ecsite-and-horizon-2020-advocating-science-centres-and-museums

Data Collection: An exciting new source of information for Ecsite members

The Ecsite Data Collection Tool will aggregate important information about the science centres and museums in Europe.

• September 2011 – First meeting, Cape Town
• November 2011 – Workshop at the DF on which kind of data could be interesting in the future
• March 2012 – Selection of the company to develop the online data collection tool
• June 2012 – Developing beta version of the online tool
• Summer period – Testing of the tool by Board Members
• September 2012 – Online tool available for members

Encourage broader geographical membership and participation

Increase the presence at the AC + difference events of Ecsite and increse the membership

• Deliberately increase membership from underrepresented countries
• Presence of underrepresented countries is stronger at Ecsite Annual Conference 2012, Toulouse, France
• Greater engagement with Russian institutions – Copernicus Science Centre, Warsaw, Poland, is making great strides in this area

Develop a Communications Plan & Branding Strategy

Audit of Current Activities – shows extensive work and areas for action

Brand statement developed for use, first application: Revamped design of Ecsite Quarterly Newsletter

Communications Plan and Stakeholder Map to be developed

The Ecsite Brand

Core Proposition: Harness the power of our diverse network to communicate the vast, interconnected world of science.

Our Promise: Facilitate the success of our members in engaging the citizens of Europe with science.

Manifestations of brand are expressed through:

• Language
• Visual Representation
• Typeface
• Colour Palette

Brand: timeline for development:

• September 2012: Communications Plan
• September 2012: Stakeholder Plan

Objective: Monitor and develop operational standards in our field with a view to sharpening performance

Beacons of Excellence

Our vision is to celebrate amazing achievement and inspire innovation and creativity within the sector.

Set up an Ecsite Award to recognise quality in the field

The Awards will be:

Inclusive – designed to be achievable by all members, regardless of size, location or type of member organisation.

Evolutionary – we recognise that the establishment of the initiative will take time to grow, we will begin sustainably with a limited number of categories, building as necessary over time.

Influential – we want the Awards to be catalytic moving the sector forward in new ways.

Awards timeline:

• November 2011 – May 2012: Input from Steering Committee, endorsement by Ecsite Board, partner discussions regarding support

• June 2012: First notification Ecsite Toulouse

• June 2012 – September 2012: Partnership discussions finalization of processes

• October 2012: Communications to all members about participation

• October 2012 – Jan 2013: Entries received

• February 2013 – April 2013: Judging

• June 2013: Awards Ceremony Ecsite Conference Gothenburg

Training Opportunities

New Pilots Training Course: Trieste, September 2011

New Pilots Training Course: Lisbon, September 2012

The Science Centre Academy, yearly, Technopolis, The Flemish Science Centre, Mechelen, Belgium

Ecsite’s objectives vis a vis training:

• To identify needs for professional development
• Prioritize the needs
• Offer a service to Ecsite members
• Benefit from a European cross-fertilization between professionals to improve the relevance and the quality of Ecsite’s members’ institutions

A bottom-up and peer perspective

Bring together areas where members excel and areas where they do not – sharpen performance by learning from each other.

Ojective: Enable greater collaboration among members

Ecsite Directors Forum

Directors Forum 2011, 24-26 November 2011, Cologne, Kerkrade, Germany,Crossing Borders

Directors Forum 2012, 21-23 November, Luleå, Sweden, Rocking the Balance

• Read more about the upcoming Directors Forum here: www.ecsite.eu/activities_and_resources/directors_forum/ecsite-directors-forum-21-23-november-2012-lule%C3%A5-sweden

European Projects

Ecsite links members from EU countries by participating in collaborative projects on innovative science communication activities. Ecsite runs projects funded by the European Commission as well as initiatives in partnership with other organisations.

The PLACES project (led by Ecsite), for example, has recently developed an Impact Assessment Toolkit to be used by science centre and museums – created in partnership with 27 experts from all over Europe.

PLACES and its workspace, the OPEN Platform website (www.openplaces.eu), are entirely devoted to collaboration. PLACES is a methaphor for collaboration in our field.

Did you know? There are currently over 120 opportunities for members of Ecsite to work as beneficiaries or third parties in EU-funded projects.

Objective: Be a leading partner in fostering science centre activity on a global scale

Events that put Ecsite on the world map:

• Rio+20 Campaign: Ecsite has been teaming up with the world’s other science centre networks to break the news that our institutions are powerful protectors of planet Earth. How? By engaging people with environmental education in hands-on and memorable ways. The short film Science centres and museums: Public partners in Rio+20, an initiative of Ecsite, depicts the diverse ways science centres and museums reach out to their visitors on behalf of the planet. The film will be shown in Rio de Janeiro alongside the UN’s Rio+20 conference.

• The Science Centre World Summit 2014, Technopolis The Flemish Science Centre, Mechelen, Belgium

• EMME Summer School on Science Communication, accompanied by a Memorandum of Understanding with the North African and Middle Eastern Science Centres Network (NAMES)