At a time when U.S. cooperation is particularly important, many countries in the Arab world are making large investments in science and technology to help build a knowledge-based society and address important regional challenges. Among the challenges facing the region are an overreliance on extractive industries, underfunding of science and technology institutions, environmental threats of desertification, and extremely young and growing populations with inadequate employment opportunities. Science and technology cooperation with the United States and other countries is particularly important as Arab countries move toward developing and adopting a culture of knowledge to strengthen the future of the region. This international panel of science and technology specialists from the Arab region will lead a discussion of the progress that the Arab world has made, and needs to make, to build a knowledge society. U.S. specialists will provide case studies of how science and technology have been used to create a knowledge society in the United States. Regional panelists will focus on the role of science in their countries and how their organizations are addressing national challenges and moving towards a knowledge society.