The story
In December 1997, the UN Office of Outer Space Affairs Secretariat invited the International Space University (ISU) to organize a young adult forum, as part of the UNISPACE III Conference in July 1999 in Vienna. The result was the Space Generation Forum (SGF), wherein 160 young people from 60 countries discussed topics relating to the progress of space exploration, which included: science, engineering, technology, law, ethics, art, literature, anthropology, and architecture. More than 100 visions and ideas were generated during the conference, written as recommendations.
The ten most impactful ideas were integrated into the "Declaration of the Space Generation", approved by the UNISPACE III Plenary as the SGF's Technical Report (refer UN-Document A/Conf.184/L.14). Five of these ten recommendations were adopted into the Vienna Declaration on Space and Human Development. One of the recommendations was "to create a council to support the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space by raising awareness and exchanging fresh ideas among young adults. The vision is to employ the creativity and vigor of younger generations in advancing humanity through the peaceful uses of space." From this, the Space Generation Advisory Council in Support of the United Nations Programme on Space Applications was established.
In 2001, SGAC earned Permanent Observer status in UN COPUOS, and in 2003, SGAC earned consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council. The organization officially opened its headquarters at the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI) in 2005 in Vienna and hired its first paid employee in 2006. Today, the organization's professional network comprises over 27,000 members from 165+ countries (updated: 2023) in 6 geographic regions.
From Wikipedia’s article on Space Generation Advisory Council, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4