Building a flourishing ecosystem of open, community-owned research infrastructure

In order for research to thrive, the technologies and systems that support resaerch must be open and responsive to the research community's needs. Invest in Open Infrastructure (IOI) strives to shed light on the challenges and ultimately, improve funding and resourcing for the open infrastructure that research relies on.

Our core pillars of work

IOI works to advance collective understanding and strategy for the adoption of and investment in open infrastructure through:

  • Conducting research and analysis,
  • Providing strategic decision-making support to key stakeholders, and
  • Engaging with the community to run pilots and trial ways to put our research into practice.

In driving forward this work, we are committed to openness and transparency, as well as developing iteratively — continuously soliciting and incorporating feedback into our work products and processes. We build with and not for — we strive to work with users, developers, maintainers, funders, and other stakeholders in the open infrastructure ecosystem, as well as experts in adjacent sectors, to co-design roadmaps towards our shared vision.

Your support matters

During a time when there is increasing corporatization and acquisition in the space, we believe that it is more crucial than ever to coordinate investment and test new ways to sustainably support the development and maintenance of open infrastructure.

Together with you, we work to advance a shared vision for open infrastructure and equitable research. In the next year, your contribution will enable us to:

  • Further investigate the feasibility of various collective financing mechanisms for open infrastructure,
  • Co-design a framework for prioritizing open infrastructure investment, focusing on advancing a more equitable research ecosystem where open infrastructure is the default, and
  • Build dedicated spaces and networks to begin testing and validating some of these mechanisms and frameworks for guiding funding.

Ways to contribute

We are seeking to build our Sustaining Circle of supporters who can commit to donations of $10,000 USD and above. Sustaining Circle members support IOI’s work to advance the use and sustainability of open infrastructure, bolstering IOI’s capacity to:

  • Conduct targeted research to guide funders and institutions in adopting open infrastructure
  • Provide strategic tools for decision makers to help them discover, evaluate, and invest in open infrastructure
  • Pilot funding mechanisms to catalyse investment and diversify funding sources for open infrastructure 
  • Foster a shared agenda for investment in open infrastructure to further open knowledge

Members benefit from early invitations to events, opportunities to help shape IOI’s work, and first access to our research and analysis, as well as recognition on our website and in our annual report. Please contact us at contribute@investinopen.org if you would like to find out more.

You can also choose to donate at IOI once, or monthly, for example, using this embedded form.

Our sincere thanks to the following institutions, funders, and organizations for their support.

Sustaining Circle members

IOI's current work is also supported by

Posted by Invest In Open Infrastructure