Vitenparken Campus Ås (literally translated; The science park) is a science center dedicated to the topics of food, environment, and climate. The center is located in one of Norway’s most beautiful parks, on the campus of The Norwegian Life Science University, in Ås 30 minutes south of Norway’s capital Oslo. Vitenparken is embedded in Norway’s leading research community related to bioscience, and since our conception in 2013 we have been working avidly with science engagement within the whole STEAM specter, but with a special emphasis on biology, environment, food, and climate change issues. I our science engagement we often use food as a narrative approach, because we believe that with the food on our plate as a starting point, we can engage a broad audience in scientific questions regarding everything from the biology of the photosynthesis to how insects can be used as “helpers” in ecological farming, to how we do spatial planning in our societies to how technology plays a part on all sides of our daily lives, not least in the production of our food. Science engagement related to sustainability is a strong part of our DNA. One of the center’s strengths is the interdisciplinarity of our employees and our programs. We boast an internationally recognized art department called NOBA, Norwegian BioArt Arena with the aim to bridge the often-constructed gap between art and science.

The center has seen steady, but steep growth year on year the last decade both financially and in number of guests.

Vitenparken welcomed more than 120 000 guests in 2022. With that the center is one of the biggest in the Nordics in number of visitors. The center has limited exhibition space and compensate with a large and varied event program. However, all our exhibitions are conceptualized, developed, and produced in-house by our internationally recognized team of designers and developers. The center also does our own scientific research on multi-sensory science engagement. The center is formally a non-profit foundation but has a distinctive culture of entrepreneurship and innovation, something we also believe is key skills to approach the current global challenges, along with collaboration.