Invest in Open Infrastructure

When scientific datasets vanish because access depends on a single point of failure, it's a global problem. IOI has secured funding from Global Impact to coordinate resilient infrastructure solutions — mapping preservation efforts, tackling design questions at scale, and building the investment case for open infrastructure that protects irreplaceable knowledge. We're complementing the critical work already underway across the ecosystem.

More on this project: https://investinopen.org/blog/investing-in-resilient-infrastructure-to-safeguard-scientific-knowledge/

Open source communities often know something isn't working — decisions are murky, funding is fragile, key roles depend on one person's spare time. Fixing it means slowing down and taking time to ask harder questions.

We did that with the Hyku community. New post on what we found, and what we built together. http://investinopen.org/blog/building-toward-sustainability-partnering-with-the-hyku-community-on-governance-and-funding

Our 2025 Impact Report is now out!

2025 was a difficult year for the global research ecosystem, but it also showed what sustained and coordinated investment in open infrastructure can make possible. We raised over US$4.5M for open infrastructure expansion in Africa and Latin America, expanded Infra Finder to 110+ infrastructures, and built tools to help institutions understand the true costs of public access.

Explore the full report: https://investinopen.org/blog/what-we-achieved-together-in-2025-iois-year-in-review/

We’re delighted to welcome @crossref@mastodon.online as the newest member of IOI’s Sustaining Circle — joining a growing coalition committed to building a stronger, more resilient, and more connected global research infrastructure.

Sustaining Circle members help enable the development and sustenance of IOI’s targeted research and strategic tools that support informed investment in open and sustainable research infrastructures.

Read the full announcement: https://investinopen.org/blog/powering-open-research-together-crossref-joins-the-ioi-sustaining-circle/

Ghent University has joined IOI’s Sustaining Circle, helping advance sustainable, community-governed open research systems. Their support enables research, tools, and coordination that guide institutions, publishers, and funders toward smarter investments in open infrastructure. By working together, we are strengthening the foundations of open scholarship so knowledge can be created, shared, and preserved for generations to come. Get involved: https://investinopen.org/blog/ghent-university-joins-the-ioi-sustaining-circle/

When does a financial warning sign become a real risk for an organization?

At Invest in Open Infrastructure, we built a financial risk monitoring framework to help us move beyond traditional reporting and toward clearer decision-making.

We've penned an article explores how we designed indicators across runway, pipeline health, and sustainability — and what we learned along the way.

Read more:
https://investinopen.org/blog/when-to-act-building-a-financial-risk-monitoring-framework/

Library consortia are moving beyond shared collections toward infrastructure-based strategies that strengthen open systems. At ER&L Fest later this week, IOI's Lauren Collister will share findings from the ORBIT project on how consortia can use collective power to host platforms, negotiate memberships, and counter market concentration.

🗓 March 4, 10:10–11:00
🎙 Moderated by J. Michael Thompson

Register to attend in person or online: https://site.pheedloop.com/event/ERL26/home

When scientific datasets vanish because access depends on a single point of failure, it's a global problem. IOI has secured funding from Global Impact to coordinate resilient infrastructure solutions — mapping preservation efforts, tackling design questions at scale, and building the investment case for open infrastructure that protects irreplaceable knowledge. We're complementing the critical work already underway across the ecosystem.

More on this project: https://investinopen.org/blog/investing-in-resilient-infrastructure-to-safeguard-scientific-knowledge/

Our very own Sarah Lippincott will be in attendance at the @swheritage@mstdn.social 2026 Symposium and Summit in Paris tomorrow.

Sarah will be delighted to share more details on IOI’s research on open research software as well as our ongoing open infrastructure projects. Please feel free to reach out to her in-person or on Linkedin to meet up!

Click here for more details on the event and how you can join online: https://www.softwareheritage.org/2025/11/25/software_heritage_2026_symposium_summit/

We are delighted to announce that @crossref@mastodon.online has joined the IOI Sustaining Circle, which will go a long way in building a stronger, more resilient, and more connected global research infrastructure ecosystem.

Their contributions help ensure that community-governed tools remain reliable, accessible, and built for the public good.

Interested in joining? https://investinopen.org/blog/powering-open-research-together-crossref-joins-the-ioi-sustaining-circle/

We're looking for new Steering Committee members at IOI! 🙌

We're especially interested in expertise around financial sustainability, blended finance, international legal structures, and networks in Africa and Latin America — plus adjacent fields like policy, technology, and public health.

Nominate yourself or someone else by 10 April 2026 👇
https://investinopen.org/blog/join-iois-steering-committee-open-call-for-nominations/

New from IOI: What happens when an open source community stops to ask how it actually makes decisions — and what it would take to fund itself sustainably for the long term.

We worked with the #Hyku repository community on governance frameworks and financial strategy. Read about it in our new blog post: http://investinopen.org/blog/building-toward-sustainability-partnering-with-the-hyku-community-on-governance-and-funding

IOI's Director of Programs, Katherine Skinner, is attending the Information Stewardship Forum 2026, hosted by the Internet Archive in San Francisco (March 18–20).

The Forum brings together librarians, archivists, technologists, and policymakers to tackle one of the most urgent questions in research today: how do we preserve and protect public access to government information when the systems we've relied on are under threat?

If you're at the event, Katherine would love to connect and chat!

We're looking for new Steering Committee members at IOI!

Do you have expertise in financial sustainability, blended finance, international expansion, funder relationships, global networks, and adjacent fields like policy, tech, and public health? If you want to help shape how open infrastructure becomes sustainable, we want to hear from you!

Self-nominations and nominations of others welcome. Deadline: 10 April 2026.
Details + nominate: https://investinopen.org/blog/join-iois-steering-committee-open-call-for-nominations/

University libraries are central to the future of open scholarship — and today we’re proud to welcome Ghent University to IOI’s Sustaining Circle.

This commitment reinforces their long-standing support for open publishing and the shared infrastructure that makes research more accessible worldwide. Together, we are investing in community-led systems that prioritize academic values over profit and help build a stronger, more coordinated open ecosystem.

Read more: https://investinopen.org/blog/ghent-university-joins-the-ioi-sustaining-circle/

A must-read report on how small scientific publishers - a critical stakeholder group in scholarly communication - are approaching the transition to open access publishing https://zenodo.org/records/17950438

How does an organization know when a financial warning sign needs action — and what kind of action?

We built a framework to help us find out. Our new blogpsot discusses how we moved from financial reporting to financial decision-making, what we learned, and what we're offering to help others do the same.

Relevant if you work in open infrastructure, nonprofit finance, or fund organizations like ours.
https://investinopen.org/blog/when-to-act-building-a-financial-risk-monitoring-framework/

#OpenInfrastructure #Sustainability

IOI is thrilled to launch the 2025 State of Open Infrastructure Report!

After six months of in-depth research, expert interviews, and analysis, we’re unveiling critical insights on #OpenInfrastructure characteristics, funding flows, policy dynamics, and community health.

In a time of global research instability, this report offers actionable steps to strengthen the ecosystem.

Read now: https://investinopen.org/state-of-open-infrastructure-2025/sooi-foreword-2025/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=Mastodon&utm_campaign=SoOI25

Excited to share that Katherine Skinner, our Director of Programs, will next week join a stellar panel at NISO Plus 2026 on “Sustaining Open Research: Shared Infrastructure, Shared Responsibility.”

She’ll be in conversation with Ravi Venkataramani , Rob Day, and Nicholas Steinwachs , to explore how the scholarly community can forge practical collaborations to enhance research infrastructure sustainability.

Find out more about the session : https://nisoplusglobalonline.cadmore.media/NISO-2026

We’re thrilled to welcome Arcadia as a Founding Contributor to the IOI Fund for Network Adoption!
With Arcadia’s generous support, the Fund has now reached US$4.55 million — that's 75% of our initial target. This will go a long way toward accelerating the adoption and scaling of open research infrastructure across Africa, Latin America, and North America.

More on this collaboration in our blogpost: https://investinopen.org/blog/arcadia-joins-the-ioi-fund-for-network-adoption-as-a-founding-contributor/

🎧 So grateful to the @chaoss@fosstodon.org team for inviting our Product Lead Chrys Wu to discuss our latest research on CHAOSScast Episode 112!

Key finding: while formal frameworks aren't widely familiar, there's real hunger for clearer signals about project governance, user base, etc in #OpenInfrastructure

People want transparency & better communication to make values-aligned decisions - which is exactly what many projects need help with too 🤝

Listen to the episode today!

https://investinopen.org/blog/building-bridges-how-trust-and-community-health-frameworks-can-strengthen-open-infrastructure-decision-making/

🌐 Big news, everyone! Invest in Open Infrastructure's website has a fresh new look! 🚀 Our revamped website offers a user-friendly experience to to enable our community to easily navigate our three core programmes. Dive in and discover the possibilities: https://investinopen.org

What happens to open infrastructures when research policy and funding become unstable?

Earlier this year, US policy shifts threatened billions in federal research funding. IOI ran a community survey to hear how providers, users, and funders were experiencing and responding to the volatility.

In a new talk for @cni@mastodon.social Pre-Recorded Project Briefing Series, IOI's Dr. Katherine Skinner unpacks the findings and asks: how do we ensure these infrastructures thrive?
🔗 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewwJdFs_apg

“It’s time to shift the dialogue from how to maintain the structures of the past to how to build sustainable and equitable futures.”

@kaythaney@indieweb.social highlights the need for more resolute and clear terms for what “reasonable cost” means to achieve the aims of open access and research, and calls for those profitting from open research to actively reinvest in the communities and infrastructures they depend on.

#openaccess #openscience #openinfrastructure

https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2023/07/20/open-access-at-any-cost-cannot-support-scholarly-publishing-communities/

Some of the key findings from the 2025 State of Open Infrastructure report include:

From an analysis of over $550M in open infrastructure funding from 2001-2024, governments are a critical source of funding for open infrastructures. Given the recent (and ongoing) research funding cuts, there is a need for coordinated action to plug the deficit caused by the cuts of government spending on research in the US and beyond https://investinopen.org/state-of-open-infrastructure-2025/sooi-grant-funding-2025/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=Mastodon&utm_campaign=SoOI25 (1/3)

If you’re at #FOSDEM2024 tomorrow, stop by and see IOI’s Chrys Wu and Emmy Tsang (@emmyft@mastodon.cloud) present on Infra Finder tomorrow!
@fosdem@fosstodon.org
https://fosdem.org/2024/schedule/event/fosdem-2024-3436-infra-finder-increasing-visibility-of-open-technologies-for-open-science/

🌐 Exciting times ahead! Join us on Jan 26, 14:00 UTC for a community call as we unwrap the insights and learnings from the year-long #OpenInfrastructure Fund journey. Let's dive into the heart of participatory design and discover the amazing projects our grantees are set to unveil! 🚀 Register here: https://investinopen.civicrm.org/civicrm/event/info?id=35

Something that surfaced repeatedly in our MoCHI workshops but wasn't in our original 11 themes: resilience.

Not just survival — but adaptability. Financial, technical, political, organizational.

Past longevity ≠ future resilience. That distinction matters more than ever right now.

Read more: https://investinopen.org/blog/building-trust-through-values-what-we-learned-from-the-mochi-project/

#OpenScience #ResearchInfrastructure

Big news for open research infrastructure!

A US$500,000 commitment from Lyrasis brings the IOI Fund for Network Adoption to over US$5M raised. This growing coalition is supporting regional research networks in Africa and Latin America to adopt and scale open infrastructure — strengthening collaboration, resilience, and equity across the global research ecosystem.

Learn more about the partnership and the Fund: https://investinopen.org/blog/invest-in-open-infrastructure-announces-us-500-000-contribution-from-lyrasis-for-the-ioi-fund-for-network-adoption/

IOI’s Chrys Wu, is attending the Research Data Alliance 26th Virtual Plenary this week.

This year’s theme, “Data Continuity for Research Resilience,” speaks to a challenge many across the research ecosystem are thinking about right now: how to ensure that research data remains accessible, trustworthy, and preserved over time.

More details on the conference and how to register: https://www.rd-alliance.org/plenaries/p26/

How do open infrastructure organizations scale sustainably?

Last year, IOI partnered with 2i2c on a strategic consulting engagement focused on strengthening business development capacity and accelerating progress toward product–market fit.

The collaboration helped introduce structured customer discovery, clearer sales roles, and new systems for cross-team coordination.

Read the Infrastructure Spotlight: https://investinopen.org/blog/infrastructure-showcase-2i2c/

We wrapped up the MoCHI project — a year-long study of how community health frameworks and metrics shape decisions about open research infrastructure.
Key finding: frameworks like CHAOSS, FOREST, and POSI are useful — but mainly for internal self-assessment, not external evaluation.

What stakeholders actually use? 11 recurring themes, shaped by trust and tension.
Full report + blog: https://investinopen.org/blog/building-trust-through-values-what-we-learned-from-the-mochi-project/

#OpenInfrastructure #OpenScience #ResearchInfrastructure

IOI's Senior Researcher, Sarah Lippincott will be in attendance at the International Digital Curation Conference this week in Zagreb, Croatia.

Sarah will be excited to shed more light on IOI's ongoing research on the artificial intelligence and the use of open infrastructures in data curation. Please feel free to reach out to her in-person or on LinkedIn to meet up!

IOI’s Director of Programs, Katherine Skinner, was recently featured in the terrific The Digital Shift newsletter by Rosalyn Metz. In a thoughtful and wide-ranging interview, Katherine challenges the scarcity narrative in open infrastructure, arguing that the money has always been there — what’s been missing is strategy and community coordination.

Read more: https://rosalynmetz.substack.com/p/the-illusion-of-scarcity-the-power

IOI’s Kaitlin Thaney will this morning moderate a panel discussion at the WACREN 2026 conference titled, “collaborating on open infrastructure to support digital sovereignty in African higher education.”

The discussion will focus on how universities can work together to build and sustain shared digital infrastructure that strengthens institutional control, protects research data, and supports long-term innovation.

The session commences at 09:25 am UTC

More details: https://wacren2026.wacren.net/general-schedule

At IOI, we’ve always championed open infrastructure being community-centred.

For the IOI Fund for Network Adoption, we leaned on the deep technical expertise and lived experiences of our global community to identify projects best positioned for long-term impact.

In our recent blog post, we share how we tapped into this collective expertise and the key lessons we learned from evaluating 100+ applications from networks across the world. https://investinopen.org/blog/designing-for-impact-lessons-from-the-ioi-fund-for-network-adoption/

How do we build a truly global, resilient research ecosystem? By investing in the networks that power it.

Thanks to a US$500,000 contribution from Lyrasis, the IOI Fund for Network Adoption has surpassed 80% of its US$6M goal. This support accelerates adoption of open infrastructure and helps onboard additional research networks in Africa and Latin America, advancing research that is open, collaborative, and equitable by design. https://investinopen.org/blog/invest-in-open-infrastructure-announces-us-500-000-contribution-from-lyrasis-for-the-ioi-fund-for-network-adoption/

We’re excited to share that IOI’s @emmyft@mastodon.cloud will be at CHAOSScon Europe tomorrow!

Open source practitioners from across the ecosystem will come together to explore what makes communities thrive, from community health to sustainability and impact.

If you’re attending, Emmy would love to connect and chat about IOI’s work on open infrastructure and open source sustainability.

Learn more and follow the event online or in person:
https://chaoss.community/chaosscon-2026-eu/

Last call: nominations close today.

IOI is looking for new Steering Committee members to help shape the future of open infrastructure.

We’re especially interested in expertise in financial sustainability, blended finance, international governance, funder partnerships, and global networks — particularly across Africa and Latin America.

Perspectives from policy, technology, public health, and civic tech are also welcome.

More details:
https://investinopen.org/blog/join-iois-steering-committee-open-call-for-nominations/

How can library consortia provide stability amid funding cuts, vendor consolidation, and capacity crises?

At the @cni@mastodon.social Fall 2025 Meeting, IOI’s Katherine Skinner hosted a discussion with Jill Morris (PALCI) and Kirsten Leonard (PALNI) exploring how consortia can leverage their inherent strengths to address resource scarcity and reduce service disruptions through a “network of networks” approach.

Watch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEO5in6Ncgc