It is striking how development priorities have aligned over the past five years. Countries of all income levels are prioritizing their transition to digital and ‘green’ economies in parallel. This dual transition reflects a double imperative. On the one hand the clock is ticking for countries to reach their Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. On the other countries are convinced that their future economic competitiveness will depend upon how quickly they transition to digital societies. This seventh edition of the report monitors the development path that countries have been following over the past five years from the perspective of science governance. It documents the rapid societal transformation under way which offers new opportunities for social and economic experimentation but also risks exacerbating social inequalities unless safeguards are put in place.

Written by a team of independent experts who are each covering the country or region from which they hail the UNESCO Science Report 2010 analyses the trends and developments that have shaped scientific research innovation and higher education over the past five years including the impact of the current global economic recession. The report depicts an increasingly competitive environment one in which the flow of information knowledge personnel and investment has become a two-way traffic. This trend is fostering a democratization of science worldwide. In turn science diplomacy is becoming a key instrument of peace-building and sustainable development in international relations. Taking up from where its predecessor left off in 2005 the UNESCO Science Report 2010 proposes a world tour of the status of science today that should enable ‘science watchers’ everywhere to decipher the trends that are shaping our rapidly changing world.

The third in a biennial series published by UNESCO the World Science Report 1998 looks at the current state of science around the globe through the eyes of an international team of experts. Who is carrying out research and development where and with what means? What has changed over the past couple of years? Informative and thought-provoking each essay describes how research and development are organized in a given region or group of countries and identifies and discusses emerging trends in research and science education including region- or country-specific issues. Wherever possible the author's opinion is backed up by numerical data presented in an easily accessible form as tables or diagrams. The second part of the Report examines three contemporary issues that have in common their global nature and ramifications for society as a whole. Separate chapters look at how science is helping to safeguard our two most basic commodities - food and water - in a context of rapid demographic growth and environmental stress. Globalization a leitmotiv throughout the first part of the Report is also the subject of the concluding chapter which discusses its impact on scientific communities in the developing countries.

The World Science Report 1993 is made up of four major parts. The first part contains a collection of essays which together constitute an informative and thought-provoking review of the state of science and technology in various regions of the world. The second part describes how scientific R&D is organized - who carries it out where and with what means. International partnership and cooperation are discussed in Part 3 while the fourth part carries overviews of recent developments in the basic sciences. The Report concludes with an appendix of statistical tables on national and regional scientific activity and manpower. The World Science Report is both authoritative and readable. Written by authors recognized in their respective fields the text is packed with facts figures and discussion on present-day science. As a source of information this work is a guide for all those with an interest in the shape of science and technology around the globe be they decision makers practitioners of science active participants or observers.