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At the Science Centre, anyone can experience science as fascinating, exciting and fun. The facility is a unique attraction in the region, which is also a tribute to the dedication of its staff. Its Managing Director, Béla Somogyi, has been at the helm since its inception and has now been appointed for another five years. An assessment of the past ten years will follow, and the future plans will be discussed.
Béla Somogyi recalled in the programme “Evening Snapshot” of Debrecen Television that the Agora Science Centre was born thanks to the cooperation and joint thinking of the city and the University of Debrecen.
“It was already clear at the time that this was a major challenge, and the development of the city would require that interest in the natural sciences should not be lost. As a teacher, I have experienced that children are curious about everything, especially at a young age, and that over time this wears off, subjects become scary, and even more so for girls, they start looking for a future, a career, in a completely different direction. Now in the city, we can see how important it is that young people don’t lose the natural interest we are born with,” the CEO pointed out adding that 10 years ago, the weight of this was not felt so much, but even then they saw that young people wanted interactivity and to learn in a different way.
He emphasised that from the beginning, they had stated that they did not want to be a competitor to the school, but rather to become a place where one can experiment, gain experiences, and go home feeling like they would be happy to return another time.
Popular programmes
Béla Somogyi also mentioned that already in the first 2-3 years they reached the number of visitors that represents the capacity of the institution, 30-40 thousand people per year.
There are many institutions like Agora around the world, but they are huge and there is no opportunity for personal contact. Those who enter can walk through an exhibition and leave, while at Agora they can be drawn back not only by the objects but also by the human environment, with experimental demonstrations, lab sessions and workshops.
The manager underlined the importance to assess the needs of visitors, to keep up to date and to keep abreast of changes in the world.
“On the tools side, on the interactive games side, professionally, the evolution of our colleagues also requires us to always be new, to have something new every year. Perhaps that is the secret of our collective success,” he said.
Women at Tech
Béla Somogyi added, “local business leaders have pointed out the problem that while the proportion of women in engineering careers in the European Union is above 40 percent, in Hungary it is below 30 percent, and this should be changed. That is why they decided to target mainly girls in the 10th grade, who are probably still undecided about where they want to go.”
The CEO pointed out that the programme has been launched for the fourth time this year, and applications are still welcome until the 12th of December.
“It gives us an ongoing challenge, we are getting feedback from schools and companies that this is an important cause. We would like to involve others in this type of collaboration, as we were set up by the city and the university to help young people get a head start in science,” he added.
Objectives
Béla Somogyi believes that they cannot sit back and relax, as they want to innovate even more. The theme for next year is already set, it is hoped that Hungary will have an astronaut again, and Agora in Debrecen will also contribute to the success of the Hunor programme.
“Of course, the emergence and enormous development of the automotive industry in Debrecen is a natural development. In the year 2026, we hope to be a good theme to show young people the current and future trends in the automotive industry, what is happening, what kind of transport we can expect, using our tools,” the CEO said.
Source and photo credit:dehir.hu
