![](https://gisbarbados.gov.bb/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Young-scientist.jpg)
The Ministry of Innovation, Science and Smart Technology (MIST) will once again host the Science and Technology Festival, in association with the Faculty of Science and Technology of the University of the West Indies (UWI), Cave Hill Campus. It will be held from Thursday, March 5, to Saturday, March 7.
This year’s theme is Science and Innovation – Gateway to a New Barbados. The free fun-filled festival will be held under the UWI’s graduation tent, and will open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on March 5 and 6, and 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on March 7. It will feature a vast array of science-based activities and targets students from pre-school to tertiary level.
Persons are invited to visit the kids’ zone which will showcase amazing hands-on science experiments. Additionally, there will be functioning humanoid robots and the Science & Technology speak-off competition, which will feature presentations from various schools.
Visitors to the festival will find out more about cutting-edge scientific research being carried out in Barbados.
For the first time this year, the festival will have a Sound-off Competition, which is open to students ages 12 to18. Participants must be enrolled in an educational institution; perform a song, or rap 15 seconds in duration outlining why science is important to them. They should state their name, age and school at the end of the song/rap.
The content must be uploaded to MIST’s Instagram, Facebook pages or TikTok, by March 1, 2020, to be eligible. The final sound-off will take place on March 7, at the festival, where the winner will be announced. The winner will receive a prize of BDS $1,000.00.