The world's economies are undergoing a fundamental transformation to knowledge-based industries. The role of
government is changing. The democratic process is making the decision-making process more complex,
requiring support systems for decision-making.
Countries need to respond with policies, programmes, institutions and partnerships that maximize their economic
opportunities while sustaining the social fabric. Governments must re-evaluate not only where they spend their S&T
resources but also how they can spend their resources more effectively. There is also a need to focus on establishing
partnerships, networks and an innovation system that enhances a country’s ability to share knowledge and information.
At the same time, the effective management of relations between society, science and technology is becoming
vital to present and future development because of the growing, and sometimes contradictory, pressures of
economic competitiveness and broad social demands.
Accordingly, any future programme should take into consideration the following factors:
- governments need to shift emphasis towards becoming partners to businesses, academic institutions,
other governments and voluntary organizations will stimulate S&T activity.
- better governance of S&T entails strengthening the role of parliaments. It also requires participatory
policy reviews resulting in a common set of principles and guidelines to improve the management of S&T in government departments and agencies.
- genuine partnerships and collaborative arrangements in the innovation system are required to make
sure that the overall S&T effort corresponds to both domestic and global challenges.
UNESCO’s reflection on the role of science in the 21st century culminated in the holding of the World
Conference on Science for the 21st Century: a New Commitment (Budapest, Hungary, 26 June-1 July 1999) . The
Declaration on Science and the Use of Scientific Knowledge
and the Science Agenda-Framework for Action adopted
by the conference highlight the vital importance of science policy. The conference emphasized the fact that
‘regional and international networking and co-operation can facilitate the exchange of national experiences
and the design of more coherent science policies.’
The link between science, society and governance has been underlined, as has the role that science plays
in helping societies to achieve sustainable socio-economic development. In this process, it can be vital to
form an alliance between technical science and holistic wisdom from different cultures.
Science Policy
