The Ningbo Science Exploration Center is located in Jiangdong District, Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province. It is one of the earliest large-scale comprehensive privately-owned science popularization venues in China. The venue was officially built and opened in 2014, with a total construction area of 55000 square meters and an indoor exhibition hall area of 20000 square meters. It has undergone multiple rounds of upgrades and renovations. In 2019, the two major exhibition areas of ocean and universe were updated. In 2023, the exhibition items for the fun of human body, brain, and science were iteratively upgraded, with a large number of old mechanical and electrical exhibitions updated and control systems upgraded. The venue adopts a market-oriented operation mode, requiring ticket purchases to enter the venue, supporting a dome theater, with six permanent theme exhibition halls, and setting up a large area of temporary special exhibition halls.
The six permanent exhibition halls are the Universe Exhibition Hall, the Ocean Exhibition Hall, the Human and Brain Exhibition Hall, the Fun of Science Exhibition Hall, the Society of Science Exhibition Hall, and the Children's Science Exhibition Hall. The space exhibition hall revolves around the theme of astronomy and aerospace, with multiple immersive interactive experience devices set up to explain knowledge related to space objects and aerospace flight to visitors; The ocean exhibition hall is closely aligned with the positioning of Ningbo as a coastal city, focusing on ocean ecology, ocean engineering, and ocean disaster science popularization, and equipped with a large number of ocean themed electromechanical interactive exhibitions; The Human Body and Brain Exhibition Hall revolves around human physiology and brain science, uncovering the mysteries of human operation through interactive devices; The Fun of Science Exhibition Hall gathers a massive collection of classic interactive exhibition items in mathematics, physics, and chemistry, allowing visitors to complete various scientific experiments hands-on; The scientific social exhibition hall explains the changes that technology has brought to social development; The Children's Science Exhibition Hall is specifically designed for young children, featuring water science, construction games, and sensory exploration equipment. The temporary exhibition hall of the venue introduces multiple sets of high-quality science popularization exhibitions from home and abroad every year, constantly bringing fresh content to the venue.
The research and learning business system of Ningbo Science Exploration Center is highly mature, developing a complete research and learning curriculum package from kindergarten to high school. It is the most important research and learning practice destination in Ningbo and eastern Zhejiang, receiving a large number of school groups and parent-child families every year. The museum is filled with scientific experiment performances and science popularization classes every day, and various themed science popularization activities are held on weekends and holidays. The venue also develops a large number of science popularization cultural and creative products, as well as scientific handicrafts, to expand the boundaries of science popularization. Unlike many public science museums, under the market-oriented operation model, the venue places more emphasis on the visitor experience, continuously refining and optimizing the exhibition experience process, supporting services, and event planning.
The high frequency of passenger flow has brought tremendous pressure to the operation and maintenance of exhibitions. The venue has established a complete internal technical maintenance team, which responds to exhibition failures 24 hours a day. The core components of the electromechanical exhibitions, such as motors, sensors, and controllers, are regularly inspected and replaced to ensure that the exhibitions maintain a high level of integrity. The Ningbo Science Exploration Center is a benchmark case of market-oriented science popularization venues in China, exploring an alternative operation path for science museums beyond public ones, balancing the public welfare attributes of science popularization with market-oriented sustainable operation, and providing valuable reference for the planning and construction of science popularization venues in other cities in China. A large number of research institutions in the surrounding cities of eastern Zhejiang have made Ningbo Science Exploration Center a key check-in point for science popularization travel, driving the development of local science popularization cultural tourism industry.
Shanghai Inertia Automation Co., Ltd. participated in the production of some interactive exhibitions and customization of core components at this venue.