Improved social and educational opportunities and access to informed healthcare are helping today’s generations of people with Down syndrome to achieve more and live longer. This progress is bringing new challenges. Scientific research is steadily improving our understanding of the condition. Future improvements in the lives of people with Down syndrome will require multidisciplinary efforts and more applied or translational research with practical outcomes. In this context, the journal Down Syndrome Research and Practice has reviewed the roles it plays in communicating research to specialists and non-specialists, families, practitioners and researchers alike.