The third Forum on Investing in Knowledge: Investing in the Future emphasized the importance of knowledge resources in managing the future of the world’s economies and societies. The future-oriented thematic sessions focusing on investments discussed the conflicts between sustainable development and growth, as well as ways of resolving them; the paradigm shift towards knowledge-based politics; the support of future generations; the challenges and opportunities for parliaments and the case of accelerating economies.

On the Heads of State Panel, László Sólyom, Stjepan Mesic, Heinz Fischer and Karolos Papoulias, Presidents of Hungary, Croatia, Austria and Greece convened the ’Green presidents’ initiative of Hungary’s President. They expressed their concerns about the environment and suggested new initiatives for cooperation to solve global problems.

It is worth noting that the leaders of the organizations providing more than 50% of the world’s science funding gave lectures in the session Science and Innovation as a Global Enterprise, organized by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The United Nations Environment Programme decided to launch its new scientific panel within the frame of the World Science Forum, under the name: International Panel for Sustainable Resource Management. The panel provides scientific assessments and expert advice on use intensity, the security of supplies and the environmental impact of selected products and services on a global level.

A plenary meeting was dedicated to Reports of Representatives of Global Fora. It was one of the original ideas of the World Science Forum to become the forum of global science fora, dealing with different aspects of scientific research and the advancement of technologies, such as the Meetings of Nobel Laureates in Lindau; the OECD Global Science Forum; the Japanese Science and Technology in Society Forum; the Euroscience Open Forum (ESOF); the World Bank's Knowledge Economy Forum and STI Global Forum; the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS); the London International Youth Science Forum and the AAAS Annual Meeting.

UNESCO organized three sessions. The thematic session on The Role of Science, Technology and Innovation in the Achievement of The Millennium Development Goals: from Policy to Action came to the conclusion that science and technology are key to reaching the Millennium Development Goals and that governments must focus on investment in education, in cutting-edge technologies and in infrastructure.

This was the third time that the World Science Forum provided an opportunity for the Israeli-Palestinian Science Organisation to meet and display the results of collaborative research in the fields of nanotechnology and cancer therapy.

The special session on Investing in Science, Technology and Innovation: Challenges and Opportunities for Parliaments was brought to Budapest for the second time. The session was attended by representatives of Parliamentary Committees on Science and Technology from every region in the world, as well as by scientists and journalists, to promote a dialogue between decision-makers in government, parliamentarians, scientists and stakeholders.

Programme of the World Conference on Science  
Outcome of the World Conference on Science    
Follow-up to the World Conference on Science  
The World Science Forum 
The first World Science Forum on Knowledge and Society (2003)
The second World Science Forum on Knowledge, Ethics and Responsibility (2005)  
Read a brief History of the World Conference on Science and World Science Forum
World Science Forum 2009
Speakers at the three World Science Fora
Tomorrow’s Davos of Science?

Useful links

Go directly to the website of the World Conference on Science
Go directly to the website of the World Science Forum