The WSF is being organised by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS) in cooperation with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the International Council for Science (ICSU) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, publisher of the journal Science.
Organisers of the 1999 World Conference on Science aimed to create a new kind of contract for politicians, scientists, key players in industry, and the media for the knowledge-based society of the 21st century. Ever since the mid 90s interest has been aroused globally towards science. In his 1997 message to leaders of the Senate, the US President had envisaged a new knowledge-based society in which science was to play a pivotal role. This could well have contributed to UNESCO and ICSU to convene a World Conference on Science.
"I have just learnt ? said Full Member of HAS István Láng back then ? that according to Hungary's UNESCO Ambassador the organisation has not yet decided on a venue."
UNESCO was looking for an organising country capable of setting up major international conferences, with its science enjoying wide recognition among its populace, and able to raise half a million dollars to cover the expenses of international guests and organisers ? this is how Ferenc Glatz, then President of HAS remembers the tough conditions set for Hungary by UNESCO.
However, the Vice-President of ICSU sent to Budapest to explore conditions was fully convinced by HAS's determination and its recently launched science reform as well as by the support promised by the Government.
Glatz, together with then education secretary and current HAS President József Pálinkás, and CEO of the Preparatory Committee Láng managed to set up an event that came up to all expectations and contributed to Hungary's prestige abroad. The event directed the attention of leading scientists and science policy-makers to Hungary, and participants arriving from 152 countries spent many times more during their Budapest stay than what it had cost to set up WCS.
One particular spin-off of the success of WCS was the first leg of the World Science Forum series held in Budapest in 2003. The world event entitled "Science and Society" intended to enable scientists, politicians, industrialists and other participants to weigh the impact of science on our everyday lives.
"Along with three former Prime Ministers, i.e. Péter Boross, Gyula Horn, and Viktor Orbán, serving Prime Minister Péter Medgyessy also spoke at the Forum," said former President of HAS Sylvester E. Vizi, reflecting on the huge public interest in WSF in 2003.
Ten years after the 1999 WCS, the 2009 WSF had become an extremely prestigious event. Its motto "Knowledge and the Future" indicated that as well as taking stock of the ten years since 1999, it was also to look deep into the future. Hosting the 2009 event as President of HAS, Pálinkás said, "One of our aims is to weigh the role of knowledge and science amid extremely complex global conditions in the next decades."
With world changes occurring at unprecedented speeds it has become unavoidable to renew the very system of the WSF series. At its Budapest meeting last November, WSF's Steering Committee endorsed President Pálinkás?s initiative to set up the bi-annual WSF in a different city every fourth year, while the Forum in between will still remain with the Hungarian organisers.
The 2011 Forum with its main theme "The Changing Landscape of Science: Challenges and Opportunities" has already been co-organised by Brazil, proud host country of the upcoming 2013 leg of the series. Another sign of the WSF series renewing itself is the fact that for the first time, a closing statement will institutionalise the findings of the 2011 Forum.
Source: Hungarian Academy of Sciences
