Published in (pp. 37-50) Weber L. E. & Duderstadt J. J. (eds) University Research for Innovation, Economica, London, Paris, Genève, 2010
About 25 years ago, the world entered a period that we can call … a revolution, which is rooted in political and economic, as well as scientific and technological forces. This revolution has brought increasing prosperity to the developed world and allowed many other countries not only to take off, but also to become economic partners on an equal footing. Today, the same world is fighting one of its worst financial and economic crises. The political, social and economic impacts of both events are deep and will, we believe, contribute to changing dramatically the face of the world over the decades to come. But this crisis offers a great opportunity to leaders in governments and business, as well as to researchers and other intellectuals, to make the world better than it would have been if recent trends had continued…