Later this month in Sharjah, in the United Arab Emirates, some 500 scientists from across the Arab world will hold what they hope will be a historic gathering. They will set research priorities for the Arab Science and Technology Foundation (ASTF), which aims to raise up to US$150 million over five years to award peer-reviewed grants to the region's scientists (see pages 120–122).

The foundation's leaders face an enormous task. Raising large sums of money is always hard, but raising the sum the ASTF has in mind, while retaining independence, will be doubly difficult. Not only have most Arab governments long neglected science, but many also distrust organizations over which they do not exert direct control.

The initial signs are encouraging. The ASTF has built itself from the bottom up, gathering together working scientists interested in strengthening research capacity across the region. It is committed to building links between Arab and Western labs; it has already raised some $6million from the ruler of Sharjah, who has promised not to interfere with the running of the foundation; and it has secured an energetic cheerleader in Mohammed Aref, formerly science editor of the London-based Al Hayat newspaper, who several weeks ago visited Nature's London office and made a passionate case for the ASTF.

Western research agencies appear keen to build links with Arab scientists, and hopefully will work with the ASTF. But cooperation at the level of government agencies will remain vulnerable to the region's troubled politics — some of those planning to attend the Sharjah meeting, for instance, are coming from Iraq, a country that may soon be at war with the United States.

For this reason, the ASTF should also look to individual donations. Here, those of Arab descent living in the United States may prove useful. Particularly in the industrial Midwest, Arab Americans are an emerging economic and political force, courted by President George W. Bush in his 2001 election campaign. It is also worth noting that the scientist expected to be nominated by Bush for the post of director of the National Institutes of Health (see previous article) was born and educated in Algeria.

It may be a provocative example, but the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, hints at the potential. Around 17% of its annual budget of about $180 million comes from donations, more than half being raised by the American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science — mostly from Jewish Americans. A tradition of scientific philanthropy isn't built overnight, but the ASTF has much to gain from convincing wealthy Arab Americans to rival their Jewish counterparts in their support of research.