Arizona’s 100th birthday was celebrated in grand style with the launch of a new annual festival called Arizona SciTech Festival. The festival was created to celebrate the world-class science and engineering communities that call Arizona home–and hopefully convert future generations of youth to make a career for themselves in one of those disciplines. The festival is a collaborative effort led by the Arizona Technology Council Foundation, Arizona State University and the Arizona Science Center.
The initial year saw the festival run from January 25th to March 14th and feature more than 200 events throughout the six week period. Events took place throughout Greater Phoenix and Tucson–as well as in Flagstaff, Casa Grande and Showlow. There were more than 200,000 people total that attended the events that the organizers put together! The festival was such a massive success that it will continue as an annual event.
We want to give a little shout out to the sponsors that made this event possible as they deserve a little bit of credit.
Cox Communications, Flinn Foundation and Helios Education Foundation, Eight Arizona PBS, The Arizona Renaissance Festival, AVNET, Arizona Commerce Authority, Creative Engine, Phoenix Business Journal, Thomas R. Broun Foundations, US Airways, KJZZ, ASU School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Freeport-McMoRan, Microchip, ClearBox Media, Chicanos Por La Causa, Maricopa Community Colleges, Pinal Partnership, SRP, Identity Studios, Microsoft Store, Maricopa County Education Support Agency, Boeing, Rodel Foundation of Arizona, Immedia Edu, You CAN do the Rubik’s Cube, DPR Construction, Bear Essential News for Kids
Great for Arizona’s Future
The festival shows that there are a lot of people that are very serious about investing in the future of the science and technology industries in Arizona. It’s likely that this event left lots of children dazzled with the possibilities of a life devoted to science–perhaps computer programming? The amazing turnout should show people around the world what kind of incredible things are going on in the desert. I’m excited to see this festival get even bigger and better next year.
What do you think about Arizona SciTech Festival? Did you attend? Do you have suggestions for next year’s edition? Let us know in the comments!
The SciTech Festival was a great event. Because of its
duration and the many different offerings, there was plenty of opportunity to
attend and there was a bit of something for everyone. Still, the best part was
seeing the younger generation, -including my kids, get jazzed by understanding
and interacting with technology.