Policy Briefing: Developing a research ...

In June 2018 an international group of 40 scientists came together in Bogotá to explore the needs and challenges of research infrastructure for Colombia’s life science community. The workshop was facilitated by the UK Government-funded international collaboration project, known as GROW Colombia, which seeks to build capacity in bioscience and biodiversity conservation.

The workshop investigated resource requirements, in terms of hardware, software, human capital and funding, but crucially, it also explored the ethics and principles for building, accessing, processing and sharing Colombia’s cyberinfrastructure.

The delegates unanimously called for a national strategy for research data to drive scientific excellence and to facilitate the translation of research into evidence-based policy making. They also pledged to form the Consorcio Colombiano de Ciberinfraestructura para la Biodiversidad - Colombian Cyberinfrastructure Consortium for Biodiversity known as “C3Biodiversidad” and tasked themselves with publishing a technical White Paper and driving forward a series of follow-up actions to cultivate Colombia’s scientific proficiency.

The C3Biodiversidad agreed the principles of sustainability, security, collaboration, interoperability, and equitable.