ADSF 2012 opens and invites the UAE youth to experience the fun of science

For the next 11 days, visiting children and families are expected to be wowed by the wonder of science as they attend the most exciting Festival of the year. Building on last year's huge success, this year the Festival is a science packed adventure, with even more thrills and spills to enthrall the audiences. From October 10-20, the Abu Dhabi Science Festival will run daily at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC), the Corniche (West Plaza), in addition to bespoke locations at Al Ain, Al Gharbia, and Abu Dhabi city.

The Abu Dhabi Science Festival is a strategic initiative by the Abu Dhabi Technology Development Committee (TDC), dedicated to the engagement and inspiration of the nation's children with science related hands-on activities as part of a wider plan geared towards building a talent base in Science, Technology and Innovation (STI). By experiencing the Festival's amazing, interactive and hands-on activities, our children's scientific curiosity is stimulated, ultimately inspiring them to pursue scientific education and invigorating careers in medicine, engineering and other STI fields.

H.E. Ahmed Saeed Al Calily, Director General of TDC spoke of his anticipation of the bigger, more exhilarating Festival noting the increase in space and duration coupled with the refreshed content would allow for an even greater impact than last year. He especially commended the outreach of the Festival to schools and higher education institutions working closely with the Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) and partner universities from the UAE, noting the high anticipation of the public through social media excitement, which has engaged near 20,000 followers and fans on Twitter and Facebook.

This year, the Science Festival is ready to receive a bigger number of visitors with thousands having already taken advantage of the pre-booking system through the Festival's website to reserve their places at the most popular activities at the ADNEC venue. Anticipation has been building with Festival Mascots, "Hamad" and "Fatema" visiting schools as part of an outreach program for the past few weeks, amazing shows such as the Tricycle of Tricks, also known as the Busking Bikes, entertaining shoppers in malls throughout the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and social media sites abuzz with talk of the fascinating activities on offer.

The Abu Dhabi Science Festival offers three types of activities: hands-on workshops such as Jungle Safari, on which students put on safari gear and go on an incredible journey through deepest, darkest jungle to learn about animals; or interactive exhibits such the animated T-Rex stalking the exhibition halls; and spectacular shows such as Visualise, a mischievous mix of physical theatre and science that demonstrates how our world works.

The Abu Dhabi Science Festival is organized by TDC in partnership with the Abu Dhabi Education Council as Education Partner, Edinburgh International Science Festival as Programming Partner, Tawazun as Presenting Sponsor, Dolphin Energy as Main Sponsor; in affiliation with ADNOC, Etihad Airways, Total and Masdar; and produced by Flash Entertainment.