Abstract

The ARENA project is promoted by the Apulia Government, with the support of the Regional Agency for Technology and Innovation  (ARTI), the Universities and Public Research Centres operating in the region, the local industrial associations, the hosting municipalities and the Regional Educational Office (REO).  The main project goals are to organize the Researchers Night  2007 starting  from the lessons learned by the evaluation of strengths and weaknesses of the previous edition; to design a more complex format of event (in terms of new event typologies, timetable, role of the media,  etc); to experiment a governance model involving most Regional Innovation System actors as promoters; to provide to the Regional Innovation System evidence of the benefits coming from the dialog  between science and society;  to provide the regional government with a social laboratory for evaluating and elaborating the regional policies for youth and research; to establish the “Apulian Researchers’ Night” as a regular yearly event, fully funded by the regional authority, starting from 2008.   The ARENA proposal has been set up having in mind a specific set of achievements that we expect to consolidate: a) To reach a mass audience : the target for the 2007 edition could be 10.000; all the main barriers in organizing a successful event have being taken into account in preparing the ARENA proposal.  b) To better  involve researchers : A call for events idea has been launched on March in order to try to involve them in the conception phase and to “exploit” their unexpected skills.  c) To guarantee the quality of the planned activities : A selection will be performed by the Steering Committee in order to ensure quality in the activities d) To underline the European action in the field: Some European and regional researchers networks (like ERA-Link, Marie Curie Association, Apulia Talents Network , etc) will be involved