ANNUAL REPORT 2002
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New setting - New partnership |
During the spring and summer of 2002, the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) moved into the
Copenhagen University building on Øster Voldgade, in central Copenhagen, thus realising the desire to establish a
stronger, unified, geoscientific environment – 41 years after the idea was first seriously raised. Geocenter Copenhagen houses approx. 550 employees and 1000 students from the Geological Institute, the Geographical Institute, the Geological Museum, the Danish Lithosphere Centre, and GEUS.
Prior to the physical establishment of the Geocenter, the building complex at Øster Voldgade 10 was extensively renovated and rebuilt.The old, hydraulic test equipment from the building's former tenant, the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), was dismantled to make room for a canteen, library, and tutorial rooms, and three floors have been built on top of the old machine hall, enabling GEUS to bring together most of its laboratories in a new laboratory wing.
The new premises provide the setting for a formalised cooperative venture between the five independent institutions – a venture aimed at establishing a centre for geoscientific research, education, and consultancy at a high international level.
Geocenter Copenhagen was officially opened on 16 September 2002 by the Minister for Science,Technology, and Innovation, Helge Sander, at a ceremony attended by over 600 invited guests.The Rector of the University of Copenhagen, the Head of the Faculty of Science and the Permanent Undersecretary of State for the Ministry of the Environment, took this opportunity to wish the Geocenter well for the future, while GEUS' managing director, as the chairman of the Geo-center's Board of Management, expressed gratitude for the magnificent new centre on behalf of its users. In his opening speech, the Minister described the Geocenter as a good example of how Danish research ought to be organised:
"Sector research and the universities must together form the cornerstones of the foundation for a unified knowledge system. This is essential if Denmark is to have a place in the international knowledge society. A small country like Denmark simply cannot afford to do otherwise."
He then ignited a thunderous, smoking, fire-belching volcano, to mark the beginning of the cooperative venture in the Geocenter, which has the following goals:
- Enhance the professional synergy between pure and applied research
- Enhance interdisciplinary research
- Enhance and develop geological and geographical study programmes
- Ensure an improved knowledge base for advising public and private enterprises
- Contribute to the sustainable utilisation of resources and far-sighted management of the environment
- Increase the scope of Danish environmental assistance
- Increase cooperation with trade and industry with regard to energy, raw materials and the environment, both nationally and internationally
- Attract Danish and foreign researchers
- Enhance the participants as attractive working partners
- Improve communication of geographic and geological information to the public
