STYLE

The Ostrava Science and Technology Center

Innovation in Education, Technology and Industry

Popularization

There is no question about the fact that the

Science and Technology Center in Dolní

Vítkovice is one of the most innovative

projects of the Moravian-Silesian Region.

The construction, whose opening ceremony

on the premises of Dolní Vítkovice took

place in September 2014, welcomes

hundreds of thousands of visitors yearly and

ranks among the members of the prestigious

Czech Association of Science Centers, and

is generally also considered to be one of the

most modern science centres in Europe.

The Science and Technology Centre

methodology has bet on the interactive

approach in informal education. “On an

area of more than 14,000 m2 the visitors

find hundreds of interactive exhibits, a 3D

cinema, Children’s World for the youngest

as well as labs and workshops with modern

equipment serving as a shared space for the

schools from the Moravian-Silesian Region”,

explains Jakub Švrček, the Science and

Technology Center director.

As a centre of informal education, the

Science and Technology Center has gone

even further in its programme content. To

meaningfully respond to the needs of the

region, it has joined forces with a number

of the most significant companies of the

Moravian-Silesian Region and hand-inhand with them created new educational

projects not only for all the school-grade

pupils but also for the wider public. Today

what we find here is an exposition of the

largest producer of steel in the country

-- the ArcelorMittal company the famous

energy firm innogy. All the expositions are

part of the educational activities every day

and the Science and Technology Center

lecturers use them in their classes for

schools. One of the projects the Science

and Technology Center holds annually,

in conjunction with the Confederation

of Industry of the Czech Republic, is

the Living Library of Jobs event. Here,

elementary school pupils (especially

8th and 9th grades) are able to directly meet

the representatives of mostly engineering

companies from the region and discuss

the possibilities of future employment on

the market. “The Living Library of Jobs

is getting more and more popular for its

recruitment potential of future employees.

It is up to the companies themselves

how entertaining or to the point their

presentations of the given professions

are, and over the years the event has only

proved it is a great model”, adds Jakub

Švrček, stating that every year both the

schools and the existing and new partners

are becoming more and more interested

in participating. For their educational

activities the Science and Technology

Center was awarded the OKD Foundation

Prize in November 2018.

An ultramodern building, designed by

the renowned architect Josef Pleskot, is

characterised by a striking mirror façade.

It is located in the very centre of the

industrial Dolní Vítkovice and one of its

aims is to promote and educate in the

areas of science and technology. The

Science and Technology Center is open

daily in every season, apart from the

Christmas holidays.

POSITIV ǀ 4/2018 57