"As we prepare to enter the twenty-first century, the world faces two important challenges to both its political stability and its potential for sustainable growth. The first is the growing gap between the science-rich countries of the North and the science-poor countries of the South in the production and use of scientific and technological knowledge. The second is the increasing complexity of the problems whose solution, drawing on such knowledge, is needed to achieve equitable, environmentally sustainable, development".2 This sentence, written recently by M. Hassan, Executive Director of the Third World Academy of Sciences, contains a series of statements that are not any more surprising to us; they have virtually become commonplace and thus run the well known risk of losing their effect despite the fact that they describe a terrible reality. It is particularly remarkable to read that the disparities are becoming larger, the gap is growing, the complexity is increasing, and that such sentences are found not only in the present context, but whenever a realistic description is made of almost any aspect of the contemporary world and the dynamics of globalization, be it nutrition, income, education, ....