The Brunel 200 celebrations marked the 200th anniversary of the birth of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, one of Britain’s greatest engineers. The year-long programme had a number of aims:

1) to break down the divisions between academic disciplines through innovative partnerships that span the arts and sciences and open up the subjects of science and engineering to the public;

2) to raise awareness of Brunel’s life and work in order to create opportunities to explore his legacy in science, engineering, visual arts, architecture, design and other fields and draw contemporary inspiration from his achievements;

3) to encourage people of all ages to think how a modern-day Brunel might apply problem-solving skills to issues like city regeneration, transport and travel, global warming and climate change, population growth and the search for alternative energy sources;

4) to activate the imagination of inter-sectoral working between public, business and academia by promoting passion, dedication, risk taking, boldness and vision;

5) to promote careers in design, engineering, architecture and science more generally.

Brunel 200 highlights the role that Science City can play in joining up complementary activities, strands of research and new ideas to deliver maximum socio-economic impact for the city, region and beyond. Whilst it began as a Bristol project, it expanded across the South West with additional activity in Wales, Portsmouth and London – all led by Bristol.

It had several elements, including a competition run to redesign the Clifton Suspension Bridge. The competition went global with entries from around the world. The ensuing partnership that developed with local companies is now being taken forward in the theme ‘Engineering for the Olympics’:

It celebrated city-regional expertise and was not simply about cross-sectoral cooperation between business, academia and local government, but the population as a whole. Thus, whilst receiving sponsorship from organisations such as Bond Pearce, Discovery Channel, First Great Western, Osborne Clarke, Rolls-Royce, Wessex Water, Arup, Atkins, Airbus and Sir Robert McAlpine, a key theme is on public engagement and knowledge and skills promotion. This is exemplified in future initiatives such as Darwin 2009 and celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the Bristol Aerospace Company in 2010.

Brunel 200 brought together a rich and varied programme that included innovative arts projects, publications distributed to members of the public, exhibitions, community-based festivals, guided walks and talks, radio shows, workshops and educational events for young people that took place in schools, museums, art galleries, libraries and other centres of learning. Contributions to the programme ranged from a large-scale, nationally significant exhibition at SS Great Britain to the reciting of an epic Brunel poem in a disused Victorian toilet, a dockside sculpture trail, an interactive touring science show and a musical performance by 200 saxophonists.

It was directly linked to outreach activities and the promotion of science and engineering careers, and also the regeneration of city itself. A sensitive regeneration of a run-down area of Bristol Docks is proposed to house the Brunel Institute that will include learning and outreach programmes with local secondary schools and young people; a centre for the study and enjoyment of maritime and industrial engineering, science, history and maritime archaeology; and a national Brunel archive and maritime library.

The benefit of Brunel 200 was apparent to all the partners involved. For the local authority, it was about partnerships to enhance civic pride, well-being and engagement. For business partners, it raised their profile, made a civic contribution to the cultural activity of the city and region and encouraged people to take up careers in engineering and science. For the universities, it provided intellectual investment and demonstrated public engagement; for the general public, it raised awareness of the city and region’s historic and contemporary achievements in engineering and science and heightened civic pride. For younger people it provided opportunities to learn about engineering and science to enhance their own careers and aspirations, as well as discover more about their city and region.

“For me, innovation is about connecting ideas together in a way that has not been done before…we have a way of doing that and providing a context that enables shared understanding and creativity.”