The Euroscience Open Forum 2012 took place at the Convention Centre Dublin and was officially opened by President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins. More than 500 speakers addressed over 150 science, careers and business-to-business sessions. The opening ceremony also featured the first keynote address of the conference by Nobel Laureate Jules Hoffmann entitled From Insects to Mammals, reflections on a European journey through basic research on immune defences. During the four days of the Forum, leading scientists, policy makers, business leaders and the general public from around the world came together to discuss new discoveries and debate the direction that scientific research is taking designed to strengthen the links between science and society. The conference covered all of the current major global scientific challenges, including health, food, genetics and climate change.