A spin-off of the World Bank, GDN works to make policy-relevant research accelerate the pace of global development.

[4] The 2018 conference was held in New Delhi on the topic of Science, Technology and Innovation for Development Archived 2018-01-09 at the Wayback Machine.

The idea of a Global Development Network was conceived at a meeting organized by The World Bank in Washington in May 1997 after British journalist Dr Shiv Satchit had founded and registered Global Development Network Ltd (GDN became its working name) with the Companies House and the Charity Commissioners as a non-profit organisation in 1995.

He was supported by his co-directors Raymond Knight, a British financial consultant and psychologist Dr Diwakar Sukul.

It was not until December 1999, that GDN was launched as a response to the perceived paucity of support for research emanating from the developing and transitional world.