For historical reasons, modern Germany has no national scientific academy along the lines of the Royal Society in London or the US National Academies. It is now seeking to design one — but building a reputable academy from scratch may be more difficult than it at first appears.

Clearly, the academy's value will ultimately be measured by the quality of the reports and recommendations it produces, and by the influence it manages to yield. In a pluralistic society, no single organization can claim to be a central committee of truth. But the functioning of modern nations correlates closely with their handling of technical, medical and scientific problems. They need to receive well-considered scientific advice that has a real chance of making a difference in the political arena.

The fact that Germany is building an academy from scratch gives it the opportunity to learn from others, and to do it right. Scientific academies have sometimes carried the whiff of exclusive clubs where scientists who are usually elderly, white and male retire to indulge in arcane intellectual pleasures. It is a tough balancing act to ensure that an academy will respect experience and acquired wisdom, while also reflecting the diversity — in age, gender, background and outlook — of today's scientific community.

Germany's existing learned societies include seven regional academies, which are most active in the humanities and social sciences, and the 350-year-old Leopoldina, which represents the medical and natural sciences in the German-language region, including Austria and Switzerland. The East German Academy of Sciences, which until 1990 was the main scientific institution in the communist German Democratic Republic, has been closed down.

None of these organizations can claim to speak for German science as a whole, either at home or abroad. Nor can they fulfil the advisory role undertaken by national academies elsewhere. The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), Germany's main research agency, has done some of this in the past. But as a funding agency affiliated to the government, it cannot act as the independent voice of the scientific community in Germany.

A national academy has been on the radar of Germany's scientific leaders ever since reunification. In 2004 the Wissenschaftsrat — a council of the great and the good that currently advises the government on science policy — asked the regional academies to come up with their ideas for one. Under the academies' as-yet-unpublished proposal, the national academy would comprise a 200-strong council, appointed by the regional academies. It would generate advice for the government through ad-hoc working groups with appropriate external expertise. The details of how this will be done are still being debated within the scientific community, but the outline proposal will be considered by a meeting of the German states' science ministers next month.

Operating the academy will require modest government funding. It will need enough money to establish a robust technical staff, to help compile reports and organize public outreach. The manner in which it is funded will need to be designed to ensure that the academy retains political independence. One route would be for the academy to draw its money from the budget of the (politically neutral) federal president's office. The architects of the plan have yet to iron out all of these details.

Ultimately, a successful academy will have to earn not just the backing of scientists, but the trust of large segments of the public. It will be essential for the new body to proactively seek the engagement of the public from the outset. By giving due consideration to contentious issues, the academy should benefit German society by encouraging a healthy level of scientific discourse and improved public understanding of science.