“Between October 31 and November 4, 2022, Invest in Open Infrastructure (IOI) organized our first Funders Summit, where we brought together over 80 funders, budget holders, and other key stakeholders involved in the financing and resourcing of open infrastructure to collaboratively explore and discuss a shared framework for investment in open research infrastructure and test out building an alternative funding mechanism. As outlined in our strategic plan, we recognize the need for global cooperation and coordination to increase and sustain open infrastructure investment at an ecosystem-wide level. In our many conversations with stakeholders throughout the past years, we have also come to understand the desire for more evidence-based strategic guidance and recommendations for funders looking to invest more meaningfully in open infrastructure, as well as the need to test new models and interventions. In organizing this Summit, we aimed to: Go beyond the “usual suspects”, to bring together diverse stakeholders from around the world, from those representing inter-governmental organizations to those from the broader digital and/or public infrastructure space. Share key research and data to spark discussions and challenge assumptions on what to fund and how to fund. Create a safe space for experimentation, to test out an alternative means to collectively fund open infrastructure and for all participants – including IOI – to learn from the experience. Below, we share a summary of the discussions at the Summit, as well as links to recordings, slides, and other related resources. We’ll reflect on the collective fund pilot run during the Summit and key lessons we learnt in the following weeks….

The shared notes and complete recordings remain accessible to Summit participants. The links and ways to access these additional artefacts can be found on our HackMD page.” 

https://hackmd.io/@investinopen/Funders-Summit-2022