Ontario Science Centre

The Ontario Science Centre delights, informs, and challenges the communities we serve. We enrich people's lives and their understanding through engagement with science of local, national and global relevance. We are the public centre for innovative thinking and provocative dialogue in science and technology. In June 2008, the Science Centre hosted the 5th Science Centre World Congress in Toronto. This was first time the event was held in North America. The Congress is a gathering of science centre leaders from around the world who meet every three years to discuss shared challenges and the role of science centres in increasing public engagement with science. A pivotal outcome of the Congress was the Toronto Declaration, which established a new benchmark for science centres. For the first time, the science centre community made a collective global statement of beliefs and commitment. The Declaration identified an inspirational agenda to guide the field until the next world congress to be held in South Africa in 2011. At the 6th Science Centre World Congress convened from September 4 to 8, 2011 in Cape Town, South Africa, the Cape Town Declaration noted the progress over the three years from 2008 and proclaimed 10 new resolutions to serve as goals for science centres worldwide. The next World Congress (renamed Science Centre World Summit) will be held in Mechelen, Belgium from March 17 to19, 2014.