Three plenary sessions will examine the relationship between academia and industry, the role of governments in research and innovation, the impact of research and innovation on the society in relation to the triangle of knowledge mentioned earlier. The fourth plenary session is dedicated to the contribution of knowledge to development.

The document « Education for Innovative Societies in the 21st Centuary »  approved by the G8 at the St. Petersburg summit, recognized the need to promote synergies between science, education and innovation and welcomed the Italian proposal to organize, in collaboration with UNESCO, a "World Forum on Education, Innovation and Research: New Partnership for Sustainable Development". The Forum will build on the interconnections between the three components of the triangle of knowledge—education, scientific research and technological innovation—from the perspective of sustainable development, and seeks to identify risks and opportunities for industrialized countries as well as developing and low-income countries.

Organization of the Forum has been entrusted to ICTP (The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics) located in Trieste, an international scientific institution under the aegis of UNESCO and of IAEA, financed by the Italian Ministry of Universities and Research (MUR). Both UNESCO’s educational and scientific sectors have contributed to  Forum contents.