This spring, the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) will run a full-page announcement in some of the world's most prestigious scientific journals and newsletters, including Physics Today, CERN Courier and Europhysics News, which urges scientific institutions and individual scientists from the North and South to join the Centre in its ongoing efforts to aid scientists in the developing world.

Specifically, the announcement or "call for proposals" invites scientific institutions and scientists from around the world to become partners in our associate scheme. It urges institutions to join our networks. It encourages researchers to teach at our affiliated centres. And it solicits submissions for the organization of schools, conferences and workshops.

The proposals are expected to be submitted over the course of this year. The partnerships will begin in January 1999.

For more than three decades, the ICTP has served as an intellectual refuge for scientists from the developing world, a place where they have been able to nourish and replenish their scientific talents through periodic visits to our facilities. At the same time, the Centre has served as a scientific crossroads between North and South and East and West. Our "call for proposals" seeks to widen the Centre's main thoroughfares of exchange while providing clear sign posts for our future activities.

Every institution must explore new strategies from time to time if it is to remain strong and relevant. The breathtaking speed of scientific and technological progress, one of the hallmarks of the twentieth century, has reached unprecedented levels over the past decade. Topics that barely existed several years ago now dominate various fields of research. Take, for example, the current focus on the universe's origins in physics or the emphasis on genetic engineering in biology. At the same time, nations once on the margins of science--for instance, Argentina, Brazil, China, India and South Korea--today produce world-class scientists.

All of this means that state-of-the-art science is unfolding at a more rapid pace and in more places than at any time in human history.

The ICTP's past success and sterling reputation make it an ideal place to serve as a link between scientists and scientific communities in the North and South and East and West. By creating a blueprint for global partnerships, our "call for proposals" seeks to broaden and strengthen our activities in ways that will help us meet the needs of science and society on the eve of the new millennium. We hope that many scientists and scientific institutions decide to join us in this effort.

Miguel Virasoro, Director
Abdus Salam ICTP

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