The world is facing an array of new challenges that call for new ways of thinking to craft effective solutions that are to the benefit of all. In a world of increasing limits, we must nurture our greatest renewable energy – this is ingenuity and creativity. This is the importance of the sciences, which hold keys to answering many of the questions facing countries across the world today – questions about food security and water management, questions about ocean sustainability, questions about eradicating poverty, bolstering health, and forging new paths to inclusive, sustainable development. This is why the sciences are vital to leading forward the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.