The consortium of institutions responsible for the efforts towards the awarding of the European City of Science 2024 title to Katowice is formed by:

Together with their partners, the universities will prepare and jointly carry out scientific, popular science and educational projects, in particular, connected with:

• role of science in counteracting climate crisis and other civilisational risks;
• role of science in energy, social and digital transformation, including especially related to changes in Silesia and Zagłębie resulting from the necessity to cease coal extraction and combustion, high-emission industrial activities and creating new development opportunities and capacities in the green and environmentally friendly economy and lifestyle;
• role of science in creating and implementing new technologies, artificial intelligence and building related professional and social competencies;
• increased interdisciplinarity in the approach to solving social, technological and regulatory problems;
• strengthening the spirit of domestic and European integration, domestic, international and intercultural cooperation, as well as deepening relations between the academic circles of the parties and their foreign partners.

The universities associated in the project are at the forefront of the great transformation of the region, which stands at the threshold of another civilisational leap thanks to the new industry: science and academic education. Civilisational transformation of the region does not mean breaking with the unique identity of Silesia and Zagłębie Dąbrowskie, which originated thanks to the heavy industry heritage of the region. On the contrary, high technical culture, the inhabitants focused on advanced technology and working organisation for centuries, primacy of competencies and diligence in the assessment of a human being, and the resulting tolerance, have provided great support for building the culture of innovation and smart industries here in Silesia, more than anywhere else. And just like centuries ago, the industry of science and education will attract employees and inhabitants from different parts of Poland and the world in the near future. In particular, the most talented young people from Silesia and Zagłębie Dąbrowskie.

However, science and education are particularly the repayment of a debt incurred towards many generations of inhabitants of our region, affected by health-deteriorating jobs, ecological destruction of the environment, wasteful exploitation of mining resources as well as social problems typical for industrial areas. The universities in the city and region should undertake broad, multidisciplinary cooperation in order to ensure systemic diagnosis and modelling solutions to the problems faced by the city and region. It cannot be done separately. For this purpose, chemical and biological sciences, medicine and technology, social sciences, humanities and education must cooperate with one another, as well as with local government units and business entities in the region. The universities in Katowice and Silesia should be a great public think-tank serving the city and the region’s residents.

In recent years, the academic circles of Katowice and Silesia have been preparing to become the national centre for scientific cooperation, particularly in the field of university responsibility for the social and economic development of the country (the so-called “university’s third mission”).

The most obvious platform for regional, domestic, and international cooperation towards citizen science is the Silesian Science Festival KATOWICE (ŚFN), which serves as a public think-tank for the city and region residents. The Festival is organised by all public universities in Silesia (the agreement was established in 2018). Since 2020, ŚFN coordinated by the University of Silesia has been the leader of the Forum for Polish Science Festival Organisers. The Forum associates almost 30 Polish nationwide initiatives carried out in favour of social responsibility of science under the patronage of the Ministry of Education and Science).

European City of Science Katowice 2024 is another step towards building the future of the city and voivodeship based on strong academic centres which operate here. In the City of Science, we want to build and strengthen cooperation networks between academia and education, residents, decision-makers, and users of the city and the region in cooperation with national and European centres. Cooperation, with universities and science as its foundations, seen as a common good, the cornerstone for key changes, and a tool for discourse.

• Research activities, statistics, and joint potential: us.edu.pl/en/dzien-nauki-polskiej-w-europejskim-miescie-nauki
• Analysis of the possibility to consolidate the potential of public universities within the framework of a consortium: https://us.edu.pl/en/katowice-miasto-nauki-uczelnie-konsorcjum-analizuja-potencjal/ (action carried out as part of the project ‘Supporting university consolidation processes’ (grant agreement no. MEiN/2022/DIR/1761)