World conferences of science do not have a good track record, particularly when one of their main functions is to generate new international funding commitments to support research in developing countries. The United Nations Conference on Science and Technology for Development, held in Vienna in 1979, failed in this objective; while the meeting ended with a promise to seek up to an extra US$250 million to support such efforts, spending in this area in fact dropped considerably over the following two decades, particularly in Africa. The conference's successor, held in Budapest 20 years later, sensibly managed to keep the issue of funding off the agenda.

There are, therefore, reasons to be cautious about plans for yet another such meeting, even if on a much more modest scale. This one is being planned to discuss ways of implementing proposals put forward last week by the world's leading professional scientific associations for promoting science and technology capacity around the world. More