Funding for the open infrastructures that power research is in a state of increasing precarity, and understanding how these resources are funded, governed, and sustained has never been more important. That’s why we’re excited to share the latest expansion of Infra Finder, a discovery tool for open infrastructures designed and maintained by Invest in Open Infrastructure (IOI), which now includes profiles of nearly 200 open infrastructures from around the world.
This growth has been accelerated by our work with Wellcome, the global charitable foundation supporting science to solve urgent challenges. Together, we’ve been looking more closely at the data resource ecosystem and how the infrastructures underpinning research can continue to deliver long-term impact.
From directory to ecosystem intelligence
Launched in 2023, Infra Finder is an open discovery and evaluation platform designed to make information about open infrastructure more accessible. But it is more than a directory.
As the number of participating infrastructures grows, Infra Finder is becoming an increasingly valuable source for understanding how the ecosystem is changing over time: where funding is going, how infrastructure is being maintained, what governance and funding models look like, and where pressures on long-term sustainability are emerging. Infrastructures in Infra Finder are the foundation of our annual monitoring of ecosystem funding, insights, and trends in our State of Open Infrastructure report. This annual analysis powers our work to grow investment in and adoption of open infrastructures globally.
In 2026 alone, we added 59 new entries. Forty-six of these came through the Wellcome project, with a further 13 infrastructures joining through our Expression of Interest process.
The new entries also expand the range of infrastructure types represented in Infra Finder, particularly in data-intensive areas such as health, biology, and climate.
Going deeper with Wellcome
The Wellcome project has allowed us to map and explore this part of the data resource ecosystem. Alongside collecting structured information about each resource, IOI has engaged directly with the teams responsible for running these infrastructures. This gives us a closer view of the realities behind the data — including governance arrangements, funding models, dependencies, policies, and the day-to-day pressures involved in maintaining essential research resources.
Our work with Wellcome has also expanded the types of solutions represented in Infra Finder:
- Data Resources: Initiatives and organizations with a focus on aggregating, curating, hosting, and/or providing access to data (and analysis tools) from and for a particular domain.
- Trusted Research Environments (TREs): Platforms that allow approved researchers to access data while ensuring safe handling measures, such as ensuring that PII (Personally Identifiable Information), medical information, and other sensitive data does not leave a secure server.
Together, these additions help build a richer picture of the infrastructure supporting research — and create new opportunities to explore how different types of resources are funded, governed, and sustained.
This kind of insight matters because the sustainability of open infrastructure is not simply a question of whether a resource exists today. It is about whether the systems, communities, and funding models around it are resilient enough to support research into the future.
Following on from IOI’s State of Open Infrastructure 2026 Report, the special edition report will be published on 2 November 2026, providing new insights into the data resource ecosystem and the factors shaping its sustainability.
