Ismail Serageldin was one of forty founding members of this outstanding event that brought together decision-makers, scientists and business leaders to discuss the issues of S&T in Society. The STS forum was a great success, especially given the enormous attention the Japanese government has been giving it. Prime Minister Koizumi spoke at the inaugural session and Former Minister Koji Omi was the driving force behind the whole exercise, ably supported by Dr. Kurakawa, President of the Japan Science Council. The quality of the participants, including many Nobel Laureates, and the high level of the decision makers, including Science and education ministers of many countries and the CEOs of such giants as Pfizer and Toyota, kept the discussions brief, fast and focused, thereby enabling participants to cover many topics and much ground in a very short time. Serageldin stated that it was the intention of the Founders and of the Japanese government that this should be an annual event, always held in Kyoto in the fall, as was the case of the World Economic Forum, always held in Davos in January.“Click here to go to STS forum homepage”