Abstract
AbstractScience in the recent past promised to society to contribute to the grand challenges of the United Nations, UNESCO, WHO, the EU agenda and national agendas for change and improvement of our life, the human condition. In this chapter it will be briefly discussed how this social contract between science and society has developed since 1945. In the context of this book I distinguish three time periods, but I do realize slightly different time periods may be preferred, based on the perspective taken. The first phase from 1945 till 1960 is characterized by autonomy, building on the successes of the natural sciences and engineering in World War II. In the second phase, the late sixties till approximately 1980, government and the public lost trust and saw the downside of science and technology. The response from politics and the public was to call for societal and political responsible research inspired by broader socio-political developments in society. The third phase from 1990 till 2010 was one of renewed enthusiasm and hope that science and technology would bring economic growth, which should make nations internationally competitive. There increasingly was also room for societal problems related to environment and sustainability, health and well-being. In this approach of the so-called knowledge economy, with the world-wide embracing of neoliberal politics, strong relations with government and the private sector were established. This was accompanied by short-term accountability, control from government and funders at the level of project output, using accordingly defined metrics and indicators. Because of this, this model became firmly and globally institutionalized.