Under the slogan “Science is Fun!”, from 23 to 25 September 2016, the fifth annual Science Picnic was held, organised by the Professor Baltazar association and partners, the Croatian Academic and Research Network – CARNet and the Ruđer Bošković Institute.
From Friday to Sunday, in the premises of Jadran Film in the Zagreb quarter of Dubrava visitors enjoyed in contents from various fields – natural sciences, medicine, robotics and 3D printing, or even costumes and cars from Croatian films. A special attraction for children was the life-size walking dinosaur T-Rex, and for teenagers it was the Tesla electric car and flight simulator in a MiG-21, provided by the Ministry of Defence.
The subject of the of this year’s Science Picnic, which gathered more than 150 exhibitors and educators from Croatia and abroad, was a combination of science and art. This year’s partner country was Slovenia, but the picnic also included visitors from other seven European countries. A record number of organised visits from primary and secondary schools from Croatia and Slovenia clearly shows that more children and young people than ever are interested in science.
The expert portion of the Science Picnic offered two interesting round table discussions – the Picnic Business Studio on the subject of co-operative entrepreneurship as an innovative model of connecting economy and science, and the Picnic Science Studio on the subject of the 4th Industrial Revolution – Croatia Lost in Translation. The discussions gathered respectable Croatian and Slovenian scientists and experts from these fields.