Dublin has been chosen as European City of Science for 2012.
The event is expected to attract 8,000 Irish and international delegates to the city in July of that year.
Minister for Science and Technology Jimmy Devins said the decision today was “recognition of the great strides that Ireland has made in the area of science technology and innovation”.
He said the successful bid for the event would “provide a platform to showcase the best of science and research being carried out in Ireland across all disciplines”.
It was also a unique opportunity to promote the value of investing in science with true consequences for the daily life of the citizen and to showcase modern Dublin to our international partners, he said.
Lord Mayor of Dublin Eibhlin Byrne, who travelled to Strasbourg and Stuttgart with the delegation making Dublin’s bid for the event, said: “This event will allow us to showcase the best of Irish science and will make Dublin a living ‘science lab’ which can only encourage our young people into sciences.”
The third such event, organised by the European Association for the Promotion of Science and Technology, took place in Barcelona this year. Turin will be European City of Science in 2010.