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World Science Report 1998
Preface
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The World Science Report is published every two years and this will therefore be the last edition before the turn of the Millennium. At such a time, and
in common with most other areas of activity, science will be undergoing a process of self-examination, both through organized events and spontaneous reflection.
We hope the timely appearance of such a comprehensive account of the scientific enterprise around the world will be particularly useful for this process.
The picture painted of science around the world by the Report is a mosaic of circumstance and opportunity seized or lost, although several themes are recurrent.
Increasingly in these closing years of the century, scientific matters - both major and minor - are taking on a global character. Recent decades have seen the
emergence of such issues as global warming, the deterioration of land and the oceans, and the need to safeguard our two most basic commodities - food and water
- in a context of rapid demographic growth and environmental stress. The fact that we live in a ‘global village’ can no longer be overlooked. It requires the
pooling of our energies and strengths to solve problems which themselves know no borders.
Globalization, a recent phenomenon brought about in part by technological advances and the end of the Cold War, has affected the way countries conduct science.
Modern communications and computing make possible truly global cooperation not only in research but also in product development. With the dropping of traditional
export controls on technology, free and near-free trade agreements and better protection of intellectual pro-perty rights, companies can today export research
and development around the world, or even transfer it to another country that proposes less stringent regulatory constraints. At the same time, even in the
industrialized countries, companies struggle to keep up with tech-nological developments. The considerable investment that technology and knowledge acquisition
impose has encouraged closer university-industry links, but also cost-saving measures such as outsourcing or downsizing of staff - with their accompanying human cost.
Globalization has contributed to a broader awareness of the opportunities science offers for accelerating socio-economic development. It has enabled greater
international cooperation than ever before to take place. At the same time, it has placed pressure on science to be more cost-effective, to the detriment of
curiosity-driven science. All countries are striving to steer a suitable course between longer-term basic research and the strategic, more directed science
that promises more immediate returns.
Despite almost universal acceptance that scientific knowledge and capacity are prerequisites for socio-economic development, it is clear that for many countries,
governmental investment is not adequate to build or maintain a healthy, productive research community capable of contributing to national progress. There is,
of course, no simple, universal solution to the problem of how a nation can best balance its scientific activities: each must plot its own course towards
sustainable national development. There is, however, a need for society and decision-makers to give science their full recognition and commitment. Equally,
science has a commitment to society in terms of openness, ethical behaviour and responsiveness to social needs. Governments have a key role to play in preserving
the research base and in setting terms for international trade. As for the problem of scientific capacity, the answer is not to be found in aid from the
industrialized world, but rather in each country's political and social will to develop a scientific education and research system that few would deny is a
stepping stone to development.
The growing cost of scientific activity is one of the causes of the seemingly ever widening knowledge and scientific capacity gap between the industrialized
countries and the developing world. The dilemma posed by the high cost of science is not, of course, only felt by the developing countries, but it is they that
suffer most. Throughout the world, science education and university research are becoming more costly. Even in some of the most developed countries, for example,
universities are struggling to renew equipment rapidly enough to keep up with progress. Another challenge facing governments is the rapid pace of technological
advances. This calls for the training of a greater mass of skilled personnel than national education systems are presently able to provide.
It was with these major challenges in mind that I proposed the convening of a World Conference on Science for the Twenty-first Century to UNESCO’s Member States
gathered at the 29th Session of the Organization's General Conference. There was unanimous support for the proposal and, with the International Council of
Scientific Unions (ICSU) as our major non-governmental partner, we are actively planning the Conference, which will take place from 26 June to 1 July 1999 in
Budapest, Hungary. The Conference will not be an intergovernmental meeting of the classic kind, nor will it merely be a talking shop for professional scientists.
Instead, it will be an event at which politicians, policy makers, scientists and representatives of society at large can discuss the major issues together and
pledge renewed recognition and commitment to the scientific endeavour.
I trust that the information and opinions on science around the globe contained in this World Science Report 1998 will prove an invaluable source of reference
material. I hope it will assist the various stakeholders gathered in Budapest in June 1999 as they work towards making better use of science in the quest for
sustainable human development into the Third Millennium.
Federico Mayor
Director-General of UNESCO
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Science Policy
