Keywords: children, education, event, knowledge sharing

Galiciencia is the biggest science fair held in Galicia, and aims to disseminate science and technology to society at large. Now in its 14th edition, it consists of a scientific contest and exhibition where students aged from 5 to 17 show their technology and science projects.

Tecnopole has been demonstrating for decades its commitment to the dissemination of technology, science and innovation. For that reason, the main objectives and purposes of the Galiciencia are to involve Galician schools and students in research, and to show and publicize that research. It also aims to encourage children to study and pursue careers in science and research, to teach scientific methodologies, and to bring innovation to society promoting teamwork. Young people and visitors have the opportunity to participate in themed talks and workshops, challenges and contests, and to display and explain their work at a stand in the exhibition area.

The idea of creating a Science Fair made by young students is really innovative inside the Science Parks ecosystem. We decided to invest in young people as a way to seed innovation and science. To focus on its innovative nature, some improvements have been introduced over years in Galiciencia implementing different technologies as part of the fair development: for example, the evaluation of all the projects is done through an application developed by a student who participated in previous editions of Galiciencia, the process of submitting projects is done fully online and video streaming is in place to increase the audience. Besides that, new complementary activities are run all the year like robotics, programming and general science workshops for students and a technology summer camp focused on the development of science and technology projects.

Galiciencia is the biggest scientific fair in Galicia. It has been consolidated over the years, increasing its impact both in local schools and among the general public. The event brings together 250 participating students with 130 projects and more than 3000 visitors over 2.5 days, with the 2019 edition livestreamed to expand the audience in at least 3,000 more people. This event reached more than 130,000 impacts on social networks (Twitter, Facebook, Youtube) and Tecnópole and Galiciencia website visits. Because of that, Galiciencia is also now the national reference point in Spain as the leading science fair for children and young people.