Every year Questacon continues to inspire young Australians on their visit to our facilities in Canberra or through our programs across the country. 2017 is shaping up to be yet another exciting and busy year for Questacon. As I reflect on some of the highlights from 2016, including the Spiders exhibition, the opening of The Shed and collaborating with science centres globally to celebrate the first International Science Centre and Science Museum Day, I continue to be inspired by our many initiatives inspiring and changing the lives of our country’s future leaders.
In January this year Questacon held the second national Questacon Invention Convention at The Ian Potter Foundation Technology Learning Centre in Deakin. The convention saw 26 young people from across Australia spend a week in Canberra learning, creating and developing the skills needed to become the next generation of great Australian innovators and inventors. It is hard not to get excited about the legacy this program is creating as past convention delegates continue to be involved as ambassadors, sharing their passion with future participants. One of the great pleasures of my job is seeing the impact on individuals as the world opens up before them like this young person from our 2017 Questacon Invention Convention:
‘The most important thing I learnt was what to do with my ideas. I used to come up with ideas and write them down but not know what to do with them. But now when I think of an idea I know how to get started and make my idea a reality and I think that was a very valuable skill and I'm thankful that I learnt how to do that.’
– National Invention Convention Delegate
I have also had the privilege of welcoming our new Minister for Industry Innovation and Science, Senator The Hon Arthur Sinodinos AO to Questacon. The Minister announced our next upcoming blockbuster exhibition Above and Beyond. The international aviation and aerospace exhibition will open at Questacon on the 25 March this year and will ignite a passion for the greatest adventure of all: our journey of flight in the air and in space. Above and Beyond honours past world-changing innovations while looking ahead and demonstrating the impact of aerospace breakthroughs in our everyday lives. I hope you will come along to see this very special exhibition.
As we move through the first few exciting months to open 2017, I’m looking forward to the year ahead and what it will hold. There are exciting opportunities for our members and visitors to continue to connect and inspire a love of science, exploring the innovation and science behind flight. I look forward to seeing you at Questacon soon!
Professor Graham Durant AM
