The theme of the Forum will be a 10-year review of follow-up to the World Conference on Science organized by UNESCO and the International Council for Science (ICSU) in Budapest in 1999. Within its Framework for Action, the World Conference on Science made a series of recommendations for instigating a new ‘social contract’ for science in the twenty-first century. Ten years on, how many countries have espoused this new social contract and to what effect? Are countries devoting a greater share of GDP to R&D? Have stronger ties been forged between the private and public sectors in the funding and performance of R&D? Has there been progress towards gender equality? Has the quality of science education improved? Are countries mainstreaming sustainable development in national science, technology and innovation policies?

These are just some of the questions which the World Science Forum will attempt to answer in November 2009. The three-day Forum aims primarily to further dialogue between science and society and is itself an outcome of the World Conference on Science. Nor is it a coincidence if the Forum always falls on World Science Day for Peace and Development on 10 November; the Day was launched by UNESCO in 2002 as a direct outcome of the World Conference on Science.

Every two years, the World Science Forum provides a platform for international debate among leading scientists, policy-makers, non-governmental organizations, educational institutions and research bodies, leaders of culture and industry, and the general public. Keynote speakers initiate discussion on science-related themes which is then further encouraged by follow-up sessions.

The theme of the Forum in 2007 was Investing in Knowledge: Investing in the Future. A ‘Heads of State Panel’ addressed the issue of the Responsibility for Future Generations, while separate sessions focused on such topics as Science and Innovation as a Global Enterprise or Investment in Knowledge of our Environment. UNESCO and the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World organized a session on The Role of Science, Technology and Innovation in achieving the Millennium Development Goals: from Policy to Action.

Read a brief History of the World Conference on Science and World Science Forum
Read about the Special session on the role of Parliaments (World Science Forum 2007)
Go to the website for the World Conference on Science
Read about World Science Day for Peace and Development
Go to the Hungarian website for the World Science Forum

Read about two networks born of the World Conference on Science:
The Israeli-Palestinian Science Organization
The World Association of Young Scientists