Greater Western Sydney: #S(TEAM)-ING Home in National Science Week

This National Science Week with support from Inspiring Australia and the kinetic energy of Fizzics Education, Sydney Olympic Park is putting the Team into S.T.E.A.M and bringing Greater Western Sydney (which includes our special piece 'GPOP') right into the heart of the Sydney Science Festival.

Why here? Sydney Olympic Park is a place built, managed and being further developed through STEAM principles and innovative practice, with a focus on sustainability and liveability. The growing working population of the Park evidences a wide range of STEAM careers amongst employers such as Sydney Sports Incubator, Samsung, Thales NRMA, Western Sydney University and NSW Institute of Sport. The Sydney Olympic Park Authority itself has a diverse staff working in a range of STEAM specialisations: From ensuring water quality in the Aquatic Centre to advancing water recycling technologies around the site…..from lighting the public domain to environmental conservation, economic modelling, landscape architecture and town planning….from arts and cultural education program delivery to major event management.

So the scene is set for something special - a new National Science Week event in the geographic heart of Sydney that taps into the lingering achievement-atmosphere of the 'best games ever' and the forward thinking of the Master Plan 2030. Enter The Innovation Games - a free family fun day full of hands-on science, sport and technology action. On Sunday, 20th August, the town centre of Sydney Olympic Park will be an interactive expo of live shows, daring demos, crazy creatures and the latest gadgets....

The Drone Zone with One Giant Leap is set to take off, driving some much needed public awareness around safe drone use to make it fun for everyone. Professional pilots will be flying demos throughout the day and CASA will be on hand to answer questions and provide advice.

An engaging line-up of stage presentations will cover everything from mozzies with Dr Cameron Webb to zombies with Kelly Simpson to Dr Karl's famous theories on belly button fluff! Fizzics will be making a few bangs with their big science shows and we are also screening some of the best of the Scinema 2017.

Through the Yulang on the way over to ANZ Stadium will be a range of cutting edge interactive displays from Samsung, Sydney Sports Incubator, NRMA, Australian Museum, UTS Graduate School of Health, UNSW and Young Scientists of Australia, Autonomous Shuttle, Children's Discovery Museum, Ecohort, BeardsOn for Conservation, Australian Herpetological Society, Royal Botanic Gardens Seed Bank, Cleanaway, RocknCrystals, Ohmboy and Sydney Olympic Park Authority's Ecology and Heritage teams.

Sports fans, Sunday brunchers, Park residents and die hard geeks can all stride down to Cathy Freeman Park to exercise both the body and mind. The NRL - a fantastic supporter of this inaugural event - is inviting people to kick the physics out of a footy and compare sprint speeds with a radar gun (so bring a friend for some healthy competition!). ACPE will also be there with some engaging sports and movement education. Test your accuracy at spear and boomerang throwing with the #Murama Indigenous Youth or sit in the weaving circle for a yarn about culture.

A unique feature linking all opportunities for learning and fun at the event will be our Augmented Reality Treasure Hunt, a location-based gamification of place in the style of Pokémon Go. In this case the discoverable avatars asking curly questions and setting all sorts of onsite challenges will be none other than our friendly NRL home team the Bulldogs. Around the event people will be racing for answers, posing for tricky selfies, nutting questions and collecting as many 'Quantum tokens' as they can store in their inventory. There are some awesome Golden Ticket prizes to be won including Grand Final tickets and a stay at the Novotel. Plus, hundreds of people are going to swipe themselves free coffees, posters and copies of Adam Spencer's new book Time Machine. Download the free app Metaverse - Go Explore to play on the day and as our mate @Mrsalakas founder of #aussieEd says: Bring your phone fully charged!

So its an experiment of sorts....but one with all the right ingredients for success, not the least of which are the passionate people and thought-leading agencies who are collaborating to put this together. Special shout-outs to Jackie Randles of Inspiring Australia, Ben Newsome and Holly Kershaw from Fizzics Education and Vanessa Barrett of RBGS who together have more connections than the mob (can I say that?) and enough ideas to sink a think tank.

Join us Sunday 20th August at Sydney Olympic Park 11:00am to 3:30pm for The Innovation Games and connect with us through #innovationgames @olympicpark_syd  #natsciwk  #ssf17