After Perth, Australia (2008) and Cape Town, South Africa (2009), the third international Square Kilometre Array Forum (ISKAF2010) was held in the Northern part of the Netherlands centered around the city of Assen. ISKAF brought together, for the first time in Europe, scientists, engineers, politicians and industrial partners that are interested in the SKA, the international radio telescope for the 21st century.
ISKAF2010 consisted of a series of events and started on 9 June with a welcoming reception. The Science meeting started on 10 June with the theme "A New Golden Age for Radio Astronomy"; nearly 200 scientists from all over the world participated. One of the highlights of ISKAF2010 was the ceremony around the LOFAR inauguration on Saturday 12 June.
On Monday 14 June science funding agencies from around the globe met to discuss how they will accommodate the SKA (Agencies SKA Group). On the same day industrial partners joined in a workshop to discuss the opportunities of the SKA, not only for science and industry but also for the society as a whole in the Connect Industry Science and Society Workshop (CISS).
The climax of the week was the International SKA Forum on 15 June at the TT-hall in Assen, where high level politicians, top scientists, major industries, policy makers and candidate sites for the SKA met on ‘SKA beyond Astronomy'.
The Australian Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator the Hon Kim Carr, addressed the Forum to promote the Australia - New Zealand bid. Senator Carr introduced Professor Brian Boyle, the SKA Project Director at CSIRO, who continued with a 
presentation providing further support for the case to locate the SKA in Australia and New Zealand.
More detailed information on the Forum itself can be found on the ISKAF2010 website.