• Parallel Session C-4
• Co-design
• Round Table

Beyond Numbers: Towards a Broader Definition of Economic Impact

Session Concept:
This session is designed as a forum to analyse and discuss the role of science centres as drivers of economic impact. Very often the economic impact of science centres is reduced to a series of statistics about the number of people employed, visitor spending etc. But the actual force of science centres is that they are spaces for provocation and the creation of new ways of doing things; they create connections and relationships that enable new practices of thinking about economic development. The economic impact of science centres is a networked and systemic one, that requires a more complex set of methods and tools to be fully understood and assessed. Building from case studies, this session will be an opportunity to reflect on a different concept of economic impact, that can continue to evolve outside of the science centre space.