“…During the months of March and April, we will conduct initial exploratory research focusing on three regions: Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Our research team has conducted desk research to identify key stakeholders to reach out to each of the world regions and are in the process of setting up interviews and designing a conversation guide for this work. You can find out more on our Regional Research project webpage. We’re prioritizing research on Africa and Latin America in particular. Later this month, members of the IOI team will be in Ghana to learn more about open infrastructure needs and funding and to connect with key stakeholders in the region. Similarly, next month, we’ll be in Argentina, joining csv,conf,v7 and the “Accelerating Open Science in Latin America” workshop hosted by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to learn more about needs and funding in Latin America.. At the same time, we’ve started a virtual listening tour of India. We hope to later expand the tour to include other countries in the vast Asian continent. This exploration is fundamental in informing and shaping key pieces of work that we’re looking to advance this year, including the next phase of the collective funding pilot, funding trends research, the Catalog of Open Infrastructure Services (COIs), and the fund we’re aiming to launch in 2024….”