The international dimension of the FVE

Over the past ten years, at the request of its members (many of which are major international companies), the FVE has developed an international network of cooperation with other museums and science centres that have similar partnership policies and that are interested in developing projects with FVE's member companies.

 

The Foundation's structure has become a reference worldwide, so much so that its expertise is often solicited by museums or associations of science museums as well as by companies, in particular for purposes of multiple partnerships. This FVE network covers Europe and is developing in Asia. International joint projects have developed in a variety of areas, some connected to exhibitions from the Cité, others initiated by the FVE.

 

The Cité's international travelling exhibitions

In close association with the CSI, the FVE has initiated and followed the development of temporary travelling exhibitions produced by the CSI on topics proposed and financed by FVE members.

 

The "Decoding the Hair" exhibition, produced in association with L'Oreal, has enabled the FVE to develop a global network. This exhibition toured Europe (Germany, Great Britain, Holland, Finland, Portugal) and South America (Brazil, Mexico). It will be presented in Moscow in 2008. Because of its success, a copy was mounted for Asia, where it was presented in Beijing and Hong Kong, and in 2008, it's headed for India.

 

Other projects on a similar scale are currently being considered.

 

Specific activities of FVE

Europe
At the European level, the FVE is an active member of the European Network of Museums and Science Centres (ECSITE), and initiates inter-museum partnerships, with support from companies or professional federations and from the European Commission, on subjects with a bearing on innovation and sustainable development.

This is the case with the "Chemistry for life" programme (2000-2004), initiated and coordinated by the FVE, which brought together 14 European museums and science centres, with support from the Direction Générale de la Recherche, the European Chemistry Industry Council (CEFIC), and funding from major companies in the sector (BASF, Rhodia, Shell, etc).
A sequel to "Chemistry for life" and similar projects on other themes are under consideration.

The FVE has also created a work group with such major science museums as the Deutsches Museum in Munich, the Science Museum and the Natural History Museum in London, and the National Museum of Science and Technology in Munich, with a view to developing joint projects for exhibitions or educational programs for companies.

 

Asia
The FVE's experiences in Asia began in 1995 in Singapore, at the request of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In the framework of a "French Festival," the FVE, with the support of the CSI, conceived and produced the temporary exhibition "New Technologies for the 21st Century Made in France," presented at the Singapore Science Centre.
This exhibition was produced with support from most of the members of the FVE (EDF, ELF, Lafarge, Hermès, PSA, France Telecom, etc) that contributed extensively to the content and presentation.

On the strength of this exhibition's success, the FVE was able to develop a network with other countries, in particular China : Since 1999, the FVE has maintained close ties with the China Science International Exchange Centre of the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) with which, to mark the "France-China Exchange Years" (2003-2005) it created the "Technologies for sustainable development in China" website featuring examples from BioMérieux, L'Oréal, PSA, Rhodia and Total. This site is hosted in China on a MOST server.

A long-term cooperation agreement was signed on 22 May 2007 between the FVE and the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST), which oversees all science museums in China. This agreement covers the Science Wagon programme and the new Science Museum in Beijing.

 


PSA Peugeot Citroen Science Wagon

In September 2007, FVE and CAST, under the aegis of the French ambassador, launched a support partnership of FVE member companies (Airbus, EDF, Michelin, PSA Peugeot Citroën, etc.) for the Science Wagon program. These trucks contain travelling exhibits that tour the provinces. The exhibitions are made for publics of all types. Each one is sponsored for a year by a company, which can also present a small exhibition of its choice (PSA, for instance, chose road safety).

 

Contacts are being made with other companies to launch a second series of partnerships for the Science Wagons programme in 2009.

 



Launch of the "Science Wagon" programme in Beijing, in the presence of Alain Coine (general delegate of the Fondation Villette-Entreprises), Ms. Cheng Donghong (executive secretary of CAST), and Mr Hervé Ladsous, Ambassador of France to China.

The start of this programme was launched at a press conference in Beijing on the afternoon of September 14 at the National Museum of Science and Technology, with the presentation of a truck.

CAST is also responsible for the content of the future Museum of Science and Technology that will be opening in Beijing in 2008 during the Olympics. This museum will be comparable in size to the CSI. The cooperation agreement of 22 May 2007 foresees the presentation in the new museum of temporary exhibitions produced with support from FVE member companies on subjects with a bearing on innovation and sustainable development. These could be travelling exhibitions from the CSI or exhibitions produced specifically for the new museum. In this context, the FVE will be setting up a relay group in 2008 in Beijing, with representatives of its members to monitor these projects.

With Japan, discussions are underway with the new Tokyo Museum of Technology (the Miraikan) in view of setting up a long-term collaboration.

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