The science centre in Bighi opened yesterday. It is a state-of-the-art building that serves as a science centre, where the public at large, but especially young people and students, will have the opportunity to experiment and fall in love with science.
The first thing that comes to mind when one hears the word ‘science’ is loads of formulae and chemical experiments, too difficult for many of us to even understand, let alone explore. However, Esplora shall endeavour to bring science close to the people in a fun way and tempt mostly youngsters to look at science in an endearing manner, with the possibility of considering it as a career and vocation in the future.
The government is making quite a big deal out of this. The project as such is fantastic, as usual, however, it is trying to rewrite history and take credit for yet another project that was conceptualised, planned and started by a former, Nationalist government.
The whole idea was conceptualised by Lawrence Gonzi, when on a visit to NEMO in Amsterdam – the interactive centre for science built by Renzo Piano – he was so impressed that he resolved to build a similar interactive centre here in Malta. What impressed him most was that at NEMO, everyone was encouraged to experiment, something which he felt could change the way most youngsters and people at large would view science.
There was, in my opinion, more to that. At that time, as today, the Nationalist Party was and still is determined to continually develop new industries on our island.
For our country to thrive and survive, we cannot rest on our laurels but must continually seek and develop new industries
We believe that, for the country to thrive and survive, we cannot rest on our laurels but must continually seek and develop new industries.
I have no doubt that, having experienced NEMO, Gonzi could already envisage a whole new industry that would help propel Malta into the 2050s.
Research and innovation should be one of the main pillars of our economy in the years to come.
Unfortunately, we don’t seem to be hearing much about this anymore. The government seems to be resting on the fact that, since our economy is doing well, then all is fine. The truth is very far from that.
Our economy is doing well for various reasons, mainly the prevailing global economic envi-ronment as well as the low cost of natural resources, oil being one in particular.
Even if the present scenario remains, we all know that every industry passes through a cycle of ebbs and troughs.
Without trying to sound negative, it is normal that even our strong industries today will eventually become weaker, and that is exactly the reason why we need to nurture new industries right now.
We in Malta are perfectly poised to succeed in both research and innovation.
We are a well-connected island. By well-connected, I mean technologically, and we have a strong, intelligent workforce and a very good command of the English language generally.
What I augur is that we ensure that the monument bequeathed to us by the previous administration is not used to serve as propaganda material for the present Labour government but will be the basis for a new industry that could serve us so well in the years to come.
Karl Gouder is Opposition spokesman for culture.