Three days of high-level discussions at the BA were capped by Serageldin’s closing statement, which was an impassioned defense of the scientific enterprise. The conference was organized in partnership with BioVision (Lyon) the initiator of the world life sciences forum since 1999. The conference as a whole was lauded by the participants, who found the frank and in-depth discussions to be very useful. A book of proceedings is being prepared and will probably be out within about a year to a year and a half.