The World Academy of Sciences

What The World Academy of Sciences does

The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) is a non-profit international science academy founded in 1983 by Nobel Laureate Abdus Salam and headquartered in Trieste, Italy, on the ICTP campus. It exists to advance scientific capacity and excellence in developing countries, operating as a programme manager, fellowship and grant administrator, and science-policy convener rather than a technology product company. TWAS serves scientists in 66 S&T-lagging countries through a network of 1,476 elected Fellows across 112 countries, 127 Young Affiliates, 328 alumni, and over 400 members of the TWAS Young Affiliates Network (TYAN) across 85+ countries.

TWAS's core service offerings are organized around six programme lines: fellowships (PhD and postdoctoral), research and project grants (up to US$30,000 per individual grant over 24 months), visiting scientist opportunities, awards and medals (including the TWAS Medal and the Samira Omar Innovation for Sustainability Award), science diplomacy training (in partnership with AAAS), and capacity-building initiatives such as the SG-NAPI (Seed Grants for New African Principal Investigators, US$6M / seven years, funded by BMBF) and the TWAS-UNESCO Associateship Scheme (with CONICET, since 1994). Distribution is handled through an online application platform (onlineforms.twas.org), a regional partner network, and direct grant delivery to beneficiary institutions.

TWAS does not generate commercial revenue. The organization is funded by a concentrated set of government and philanthropic partners — most prominently the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida, partner since 1991), the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF/BMFTR), the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI), and the Elsevier Foundation — supplemented by an explicit donation pathway on its website. Governance is led by President Quarraisha Abdool Karim and Executive Director Marcelo Knobel, with ICTP, OWSD, and IAP operating as co-located partner organizations rather than subsidiaries. The Academy has been governed since 2023 by a Council with 50-50 gender parity.

Name

The World Academy of Sciences

Legal name

The World Academy of Sciences

Website

https://twas.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1983

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) is a Trieste-based non-profit science academy, founded in 1983, that awards fellowships, research grants, and science diplomacy training to scientists across 112 developing countries, funded by governments and philanthropic partners including Sida, BMBF, IsDB, and MAECI.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Trieste

HQ country

Italy

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Grants and Fellowships Funding: TWAS does not generate revenue in the traditional commercial sense. The organization receives funding from partner organizations and governments to administer grant and fellowship programmes for scientists in developing countries. Funding sources include Sida, BMBF, IsDB, MAECI, and other partners.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

TWAS is a non-profit international science academy that administers PhD and postdoctoral fellowships, research and project grants, visiting scientist exchanges, awards and medals, and science diplomacy training for scientists in developing countries. It operates an online application platform, a searchable Fellows directory, and a network of Regional Partners to deliver these programmes across 66 S&T-lagging countries.

Product overview

The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) is a global science academy dedicated to advancing science in developing countries. Rather than a technology product company, TWAS operates as a fellowship and grant-giving organization offering a portfolio of programmes including PhD and postdoctoral fellowships, research grants, visiting scientist opportunities, awards and medals, and science diplomacy training. Key programme offerings include the SG-NAPI (Seed Grant for New African Principal Investigators) for African scientists, the TWAS Young Affiliates Network (TYAN) for early-career researchers, the TWAS Research Grants Programme supported by Sida, the TWAS-UNESCO Associateship Scheme, and TWAS-Elsevier Foundation Project Grants for gender equity and climate action. TWAS also maintains an online directory of its Fellows and provides digital services through its TWAS Plus e-bulletin and TWAS Online Forms platform for applications. The Academy collaborates with international partners including Sida, BMBF, Islamic Development Bank, MAECI, and the Elsevier Foundation to deliver these programmes across 66 science-and-technology-lagging countries.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• TWAS Fellowships PhD and postdoctoral research fellowships for scientists in developing countries, supporting building scientific strength across the global South.
• TWAS Research and Project Grants Funding programmes that help researchers in the developing world to purchase laboratory equipment and supplies, supporting research in basic sciences.
• TWAS Visiting Scientists Programme Programmes for visiting researchers and professors to share expertise and projects in developing nations.
• TWAS Awards and Medals Prestigious honours recognizing outstanding scientific achievements by researchers from developing countries, including the TWAS Medal and the Samira Omar Innovation for Sustainability Award.
• TWAS Science Diplomacy Programme Lectures, workshops and courses that build a bridge between science and diplomacy, training scientists in the science-policy interface.
• TWAS Young Affiliates Network (TYAN) Network connecting early-career scientists (Young Affiliates) from developing countries, providing connections, opportunities, and collaborative grants.
• TWAS Online Directory Searchable directory of TWAS Fellows and Young Affiliates, providing profiles and information about members of the Academy.
• TWAS Online Forms Platform Online platform for submitting applications for TWAS and OWSD programmes, enabling electronic submission of fellowship and grant applications.
• Seed Grant for New African Principal Investigators (SG-NAPI) Seven-year capacity-building programme launched with BMBF to facilitate return of young scientists to Africa and help local researchers establish laboratories, including the 'Scientist after Child' scheme, exchange visits, and conference participation.
• TWAS-UNESCO Associateship Scheme Programme allowing accomplished scientists from the global South to make extended visits to centres of excellence in the South, launched in partnership with CONICET.
• TWAS-Elsevier Foundation Project Grants for Gender Equity and Climate Action Women-focused programme supporting gender equity and climate action projects, with teams proposing initiatives that strengthen gender equity and address climate-related needs of local communities.
• TWAS Research Links Network Online platform connecting almost 500 active scientists from more than 30 countries to share knowledge and experiences.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 2,400 scholars have accepted PhD opportunities from TWAS
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and supporting.

• Islamic Development Bank (IsDB)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 18 September 2017TWAS and IsDB signed a memorandum of understanding in 2017 to develop joint activities in fellowships and grants, including postdoctoral fellowships for women researchers in least developed IsDB member countries, joint research grants, and high-level workshops in science diplomacy and science communication. Also supports refugee and displaced scientists.
• CONICET (Argentina)majorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 1994TWAS-UNESCO Associateship Scheme launched with CONICET in 1994 to counter brain drain. Programme has grown to include 300 centres (175 in Argentina, 125 in other developing countries). Over 350 scientists have traveled through the programme.
• Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerICTP hosts TWAS headquarters on its campus in Trieste, Italy, and provides essential support and partnership. ICTP Director Fernando Quevedo participated in IsDB-TWAS cooperation signing ceremony.
• Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOWSD is hosted by TWAS at the ICTP campus in Trieste. OWSD and TWAS collaborate on programmes supporting women scientists in the global South, sharing the online application platform.
• InterAcademy Partnership (IAP)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerIAP secretariat is based at TWAS. IAP works to advance the role of women in science and collaborates with TWAS on science policy initiatives. Jointly organized roundtable on AI at Trieste Next 2025.
• International Science Council (ISC)supportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerTWAS collaborates with ISC on science policy initiatives and international dialogues.
• São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerTWAS and FAPESP partnership provides 20 fellowships per year for scientists from Least Developed Countries for postdoctoral research in Brazil, in natural, applied, and social sciences.
• Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS)supportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerLUMS and TWAS jointly offer a five-year programme for young students from developing countries to pursue research towards a PhD in natural sciences and engineering.
• American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerTWAS and AAAS jointly run the annual AAAS-TWAS Course on Science Diplomacy. Over the past decade, the programme has trained over 300 emerging leaders from more than 70 countries.
• International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB)supportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerICGEB is one of the international science organizations based in Trieste that TWAS works in close association with.

Scale indicators14 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Wellcome Trust: Wellcome is one of the world's largest charitable science funders and a comparable mission-driven grantmaking organization, although it operates at vastly larger scale and with a global rather than developing-country mandate. Both administer large-scale research grants and capacity-building programmes.
• American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS): AAAS is a large science membership organization that runs the joint AAAS-TWAS Course on Science Diplomacy. Both are membership-based scientific associations, although AAAS operates at much greater scale and serves primarily US-based members.
• Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI): HHMI is a large philanthropic science research funder with comparable fellowship/grant programmes (e.g., HHMI Investigators, Hanna Gray Fellows). Unlike TWAS, it focuses primarily on the United States and has substantially larger per-grant funding.
• Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: The Gates Foundation is a global philanthropic funder that, like TWAS, channels large grants toward developing-world science and health priorities. It is comparable in mission (developing-world capacity building) but operates at vastly greater financial scale.
• Royal Society: The Royal Society is a 360-year-old science academy that, like TWAS, elects Fellows and administers research grants and medals. It is comparable in its fellowship/awards model but operates primarily within the United Kingdom with global but selective reach.

Direct peers

• African Academy of Sciences: The African Academy of Sciences is the most direct peer — a continental science academy that, like TWAS, elects Fellows, awards research grants, and runs fellowship programmes for African scientists. Both organizations share a developing-world mandate and are headquartered on the same Trieste-adjacent global science ecosystem.
• Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD): OWSD is hosted by TWAS at the ICTP campus and shares TWAS's online application platform. Both organizations fund fellowships and grants targeting scientists in developing countries, with OWSD focused specifically on women researchers.
• Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP): ICTP hosts TWAS on its Trieste campus and shares a similar developing-world scientific capacity-building mandate. Both organizations run fellowships, training programmes, and conferences targeting scientists in lower-income countries; ICTP focuses on physics/math while TWAS spans all sciences.
• International Science Council (ISC): ISC is a global non-governmental organization that brings together scientific unions and associations, including TWAS as a member. Both work on international science-policy issues and convene global scientific dialogues, making them directly comparable in scope and constituency.
• InterAcademy Partnership (IAP): IAP is a global network of national science academies headquartered at TWAS in Trieste. Both are membership-based science academies serving developing-country researchers and collaborate on science-policy initiatives including the joint AI roundtable at Trieste Next 2025.

Market position

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/TWASnews
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/TWASvideos
• Facebookfacebook.com/pages/TWAS-the-academy-of-sciences-for-the-developing-world/200586166619221
• LinkedInit.linkedin.com/company/twas-science
• Instagraminstagram.com/twas_science

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about The World Academy of Sciences