The flow of knowledge: Scientific contacts in formal meetings

The scientific community organizes its relations into network patterns, where the nodes are individuals and the links are acquaintance and common work. Scientific meetings are marketplaces of specialized knowledge, where new links are established by exchange of information. The flow of knowledge is modelled by information transfer that may be calibrated through polling the participants on the number of ‘contacts’ they establish at such meetings. We indicate estimates of cost and efficiency of scientific meetings which may be important for helping science and technology funding agencies in developing countries to increase their community's impact in the world of science.