The 2024 State of Open Infrastructure Report has cited LIBSENSE as one of the key initiatives driving the advancement of open science in Africa. The Report is a comprehensive resource, offering exclusive data and analysis on the attributes and issues impacting open infrastructure. It integrates perspectives from diverse stakeholders, tracks key trends, and provides strategic insights and actionable recommendations for navigating changes in research and higher education. The report is a significant output of the Infra Finder, a tool designed to curate and showcase various open infrastructures, enhancing their visibility and accessibility. Through a mixed-method approach, Invest in Open Infrastructure studied multiple sector dimensions to identify ways to further the adoption of open infrastructure providers globally and expand the funding pool available to sustain their operations. “We’ve gathered thousands of data points, interviewed hundreds of experts and practitioners, studied and engaged hundreds of infrastructures, and deepened partnerships across four continents to build a more comprehensive and representative understanding of the open infrastructure ecosystem — and we’ve just scratched the surface”, Kaitlin Thaney, Executive Director, IOI. LIBSENSE has played a key role in nurturing and advancing open science ecosystems in the WACREN region and beyond for the past seven years through a bottom-up approach. The report cited LIBSENSE’s role in policy development through its regional workshops and institutional open science policies through its open science templates. WACREN, through LIBSENSE, has been driving funding, advocacy, infrastructure and community building for open infrastructure. The WACREN-IOI workshop in Accra last year stimulated interest in open infrastructure across the WACREN region. Through capacity-building collaboration with the National Institute of Informatics (NII) of Japan, WACREN is preparing to deploy a suite of open infrastructures to enable researchers in our region to store, share, and use research outputs.
