TomGEM and TRADITOM reach out to the general public at EXPOCIENCIA fair

The EU projects TomGEM and TRADITOM attracted the attention of thousands of visitors at the EXPOCIENCIA fair in Valencia, Spain on Saturday, May 26, 2018. Celebrating its ten year anniversary, the EXPOCIENCIA fair was even more successful than before and reached a peak number of visitors. Among them were mostly children who attended the fair with their parents that were equally fascinated by the latest discoveries in science and technologies.

The exhibition included more than 90 different hands-on activities which were presented by various scientific groups representing their research institutes. For TomGEM and TRADITOM, CSIC-IBMCP and COMAV-UPV were participating in the fair with a stand that displayed the diversity of shapes and colors of traditional European tomatoes.

The idea behind EXPOCIENCIA is to get research closer to the general public and to show how research can lead to innovation and have an impact on society. EXPOCIENCIA also showed that the Valencian research community has an international impact, with H2020 projects TomGEM and TRADITOM being good examples. The objective of EXPOCIENCIA, just as for TomGEM and TRADITOM, is to foster new scientific vocations amongst the youngest.

The event was a true success and at our project stand, partners from CSIC and UPV had great fun while showing thousands of people the diversity of traditional tomato varieties. This was done through an exhibition of tomatoes, their characteristics and properties and by teaching children how to classify tomatoes, how to appreciate the taste of tomatoes with tasting activities and by finding out if they were supertasters or not. The partners distributed information and giveaways to raise awareness for the project.

An exhibition leaflet (in Spanish language) is available here.