The First Nobel Prize Laureates Meeting in St Petersburg was held in 2003. It was followed by the Second St Petersburg Meeting "Science and Society" in 2005. St Petersburg Scientific Forum "Science and Society. Research and Education in Nanotechnology" — the Third Nobel Prize Laureates Meeting — took place on June 22–27, 2008 and highlighted the latest research achievements and major tasks of education in the field of nanotechnologies.

The 2009 Forum focuses on information technologies. Information technologies generated by scientific revolution of the second half of the XX century have deeply influenced various aspects of life, caused radical changes in science, education and national economy, provoked revolutionary social and economical developments. St Petersburg Scientific Forum is devoted to present-day achievements and tendencies of development of information technologies and their numerous applications.

The Forum is organized at the initiative and with the support of St Petersburg Government, St Petersburg Scientific Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), St Petersburg Physics and Technology Centre for Research and Education of the RAS, Foundation for Support of Education and Science (Alferov's Foundation).

The key points of the programme are the following:

1. electronic components in information technologies;
2. computer science;
3. information technologies and society;
4. education and information technologies;
5. application of information technologies in biology and medicine;
6. information technologies in industry and economy;
7. information security.