UNESCO’s Global Open Access Portal (GOAP) launched

We are energized to go exploring when we encounter a resource that opens new landscapes, especially on a global level.

So we have indeed been exploring the recently released UNESCO Global Open Access Portal (GOAP).

GOAP “…presents a current snapshot of the status of Open Access (OA) to scientific information around the world.

“For countries that have been more successful implementing Open Access, the portal highlights critical success factors and aspects of the enabling environment. For countries and regions that are still in the early stages of Open Access development, the portal identifies key players, potential barriers and opportunities.”

Funded by the Governments of Colombia, Denmark, Norway, and the United States Department of State, the Global Open Access Portal provides an overview of the framework surrounding Open Access in UNESCO Member States by focusing on:

– the critical success factors for effectively implementing Open Access;

– each country’s strengths and opportunities for further developments;

– where mandates for institutional deposits and funding organization have been put into place;

– potential partners at the national and regional level; and

– funding, advocacy, and support organizations throughout the world.

The portal provides is NOT designed to provide an inventory of repositories, OA journals, and other associated initiatives.

We have been looking in particular at a number of entries for developing nations, and are delighted at the status of the OA movement in many of them. The country level record are well documented and apparently “candid” in their assessment of the state-of-play.

I have also just registered for the WSIS OA Knowledge Community

described as a Community of Practice (CoP) within the platform of WSIS Knowledge Communities. The Open Access community in the platform “enables Open Access stakeholders to discuss and debate issues of common interests, and develop consensus around various issues.”

I will report further as my exploration continues…but much impressed by this important initiative.

David R Curry
8 December 2011

NSF Solicitation: Advancing Digitization of Biological Collections

We have followed the rapid emergence of “big data science” over the last few years, which includes digitization of “collections” which underpin new research efforts and which, when utilized in new research, are now required to be made part of an accessible database and available for the broader research community.

The National Science Foundation is driving much of this activity and we find the language in solicitations for new grants a useful marker for how quickly and in what direction the field is moving.

In this regard, NSF released a new solicitation last week – Advancing Digitization of Biological Collections (ADBC) – which provide an excellent example.

Language from the Program Description section provides context:
“Digitizing and mobilizing the Nation’s biological and paleontological collections represents a grand challenge and will require development of both technical and human resources to support the creation of an enduring digital alliance of collections and institutions.

“This program establishes a national resource to integrate the digitization data and make it widely accessible. Collections digitization is defined broadly for the purpose of this solicitation to include the capture of digital images of specimens, transcription into electronic format of various types of data associated with specimens or linking ancillary data already stored in an electronic format apart from the voucher specimens, and the georeferencing of specimen-collection localities.

“…Paleontological collections are included and may be integrated with biological collections if relevant to a research theme, or may be developed around a research theme unique to the past. This program will create an organizational structure and processes inclusive of the broad biological and paleontological collections community, provide open data access, and empower biological and paleobiological researchers.”

Grand…

The NSF does note that while “new efforts and approaches to understanding biodiversity and advancing our knowledge are represented by several NSF programs (e.g., Dimensions of Biodiversity, Systematics and Biodiversity Science, Sedimentary Geology and Paleobiology). “However, there is a digitization bottleneck that effectively limits access to information residing in the various vouchered collections across the U.S. and the world. It is estimated that U.S. collections contain one billion specimens, but only 10% of these are accessible online.”

This solicitation is occurring in the broader context of surveys of federally held or supported collections and responds to a ten-year strategic plan to digitize, image and mobilize biological collections data here http://digbiocol.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/niba_brochure.pdf.

The goal of the this digitization effort is “to produce a resource of lasting value for answering major research questions” with key objectives:

–  digitize data from all U.S. biological collections, large and small, and integrate these in a web accessible interface using shared standards and formats

–  develop new web interfaces, visualization and analysis tools, data mining, georeferencing processes and make all available for using and improving the collections resource

–  create real-time upgrades of biological data and prevent the future occurrence of non-accessible collection data through the use of tools, training, and infrastructure.

Altogether ambitious and instructive for other discipline areas which are still navigating their path to action around “collections” integral to their advancement!

David R Curry
30 October 2011

WIPO and BVGH launch major IP collaboration with industry for NTDs, malaria, TB

A global knowledge commons cannot function fully without addressing long-term and more tactical access to IP controlled (and restricted) by commercial, academic and other  noncommercial organizations.

Of course, proprietary information which is judged to be critical to competitive advantage or otherwise central to sustainability will not be soon released. But when “pharma” – where such competition is a hallmark – engages a major collaboration around critical IP, it is worth taking note and taking action.

So we note with interest the announcement by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and BIO Ventures for Global Health (BVGH)  of WIPO Re:Search – “an (unprecedented) new consortium where public and private sector organizations share valuable intellectual property (IP) and expertise with the global health research community to promote development of new drugs, vaccines, and diagnostics to treat neglected tropical diseases, malaria, and tuberculosis.”

WIPO Director General Francis Gurry commented, “WIPO Re:Search is a ground breaking example of how a multi-stakeholder coalition can put IP to work for social benefit. By joining WIPO Re:Search, companies and researchers commit to making selected intellectual property assets available under royalty-free licenses to qualified researchers anywhere in the world for research and development on neglected tropical diseases, malaria, and tuberculosis. This commitment should accelerate the development of medicines, vaccines, and diagnostics for these diseases.”

WIPO Re:Search involves the following organizations at launch:
–          Alnylam Pharmaceuticals
–          AstraZeneca
–          Eisai
–          GlaxoSmithKline
–          Merck/ MSD
–          Novartis
–          Pfizer
–          Sanofi
–          WIPO
–          BVGH
–          U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH)
–          California Institute of Technology
–          Center for World Health & Medicine
–          Drugs for Neglected Diseases
–          Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz)
–          Massachusetts Institute of Technology
–          Medicines for Malaria Venture
–          PATH
–          South African Medical Research Council
–          Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute
–          University of California, Berkeley, and
–          University of Dundee (UK).

Membership in WIPO Re:Search as “a user, provider, or supporter is open to all organizations that endorse, adhere to, and support the project’s Guiding Principles.”

These Guiding Principles include the commitment that IP licensed via WIPO Re:Search will be licensed on a royalty-free basis for research and development on neglected tropical diseases in any country and on a royalty-free basis for sale of neglected tropical disease medicines in, or to, least developed countries.

The WIPO Re:Search database includes “a wide variety of contributions relevant to malaria, tuberculosis, and other neglected tropical diseases, including individual compounds and associated data, screening hits from compound libraries, and expertise and know-how in pharmaceutical research and development. In addition, WIPO Re:Search offers the opportunity for neglected tropical disease researchers to work directly with scientists at pharmaceutical companies to advance R&D on these diseases.”

BIO Ventures for Global Health will function as administrator of the WIPO Re:Search Partnership Hub.

http://www.wipo.int/pressroom/en/articles/2011/article_0026.html

David R Curry
30 October 2011

ITU announces new global 2015 broandband infrastructure targets; ICT communication as ‘a human need and a right’

As the broadband revolution continues in the West and North, we are tracking with interest how broadband is progressing in other regions and what pacing is underway to open access to the South in particular. This announcement provides calibration and some optimism.

The ITU (International Telecommunications Union) – the leading United Nations agency for information and communication technology – announced “four ‘ambitious but achievable’ new targets for 2015 that countries around the world should strive to meet in order to ensure their populations fully participate in tomorrow’s emerging knowledge societies.”

The ITU said that targets were endorsed at the Fourth Meeting of its Broadband Commission for Digital Development and cover broadband policy, affordability and uptake:

– Making broadband policy universal: By 2015, all countries should have a national broadband plan or strategy or include broadband in their Universal Access / Service

– Making broadband affordable: By 2015, entry-level broadband services should be made affordable in developing countries through adequate regulation and market forces (for example, amount to less than 5% of average monthly income).

– Connecting homes to broadband: By 2015, 40% of households in developing countries should have Internet access.

– Getting people online: By 2015, Internet user penetration should reach 60% worldwide, 50% in developing countries and 15% in Least Developed Countries (LDCs).

The Broadband Challenge endorsed by the Commission recognizes communication as ‘a human need and a right’, and “calls on governments and private industry to work together to develop the innovative policy frameworks, business models and financing arrangements needed to facilitate growth in access to broadband worldwide.”

The document also notes that “It is essential to review legislative and regulatory frameworks, many of which are inherited from the last century, to ensure the free and unhindered flow of information in the new virtual, hyper-connected world,” and stresses the “need to stimulate content production in local languages and enhance local capacity to benefit from, and contribute to, the digital revolution.”

The Broadband Challenge report as pdf here.  ITU media release here.

David R Curry
30 October 2011