History

The concept of increased collaboration among science centers is not new, but an organization  with the sole function of improving collaboration is.  For many decades smaller collaborations and partnerships have existed  but  with the recent advancement of technology new opportunities on a much larger scale have become possible.

In 2008 at the Fifth International Congress of the Toronto Declaration was created, outlining the need to improve collaboration and further the impact of science centers globally.

In late 2009 an informal meeting of CEOs from ten leading science centers in North America was organized by the Saint Louis Science Center and the Museum of Science and Industry to present a new model of collaboration.  This new model, developed by Chris Dornfeld (CEO of Dornfeld Management Group) and Brad Nuccio (Senior Vice President of the Saint Louis Science Center) was the Center for Science, a national collaborative network of partners focused on integrating and leveraging all available resources.  Unlike a science centers with a specific geographic focus , the Center for Science serves as a collaboration partner with no geographic boundaries – and in doing so allows each partnering organization to have greater impact in its respective community by leveraging the resources of many.

Also presentng at the meeting where Mark Dudzinski (CMO for GE Energy) and Lisa Truitt (President of National Geogrpahic Cinema Ventures).  Both immediatly expressed strong support for the project and joined the informal network of science centers to begin development of the first project.

In early 2010 the first project began to take shape around the concept of Energy and is expected to launch at major science centers across the country in late 2011.