# Key milestones in IOI’s history

Last updated: 2025-06-16
URL to this page: https://hackmd.io/@investinopen/timeline

## 2018
* August - [Joint Roadmap for Open Science Tools (JROST)](https://jrost.org/meetings) conference held (IOI begins as a coalition).

## 2019
* May - investinopen.org website launched.
* June - *[Mapping the Scholarly Communication Landscape – 2019 Census](https://investinopen.org/blog/educopia-releases-mapping-the-scholarly-communication-landscape-2019-census-report-and-data-visualizations/)* research report published by Educopia.
* October - Code for Science and Society announces fiscal sponsorship of IOI (operating under a [Model A agreement](https://www.codeforsociety.org/fsp/resources/model-a-fiscal-sponsorship-agreement)).
* October - Schmidt Futures awards $150,000 USD one-year grant.
* November - Sloan Foundation awards $50,000 USD one-year grant.

## 2020
* March - Kaitlin Thaney joins IOI as Executive Director.
* June - IOI issues an open [call for participation](https://investinopen.org/blog/reopening-plans-and-the-future-of-open-scholarship-a-call-for-participation/) for their *Future of Open Scholarship* project.
* June - Center for Research Libraries awards $5,000 USD one-year grant to support the Future of Open Scholarship work.
* June - Stanford Libraries awards $5,000 USD one-year grant to support the Future of Open Scholarship work.
* June - Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) awards $20,000 USD one-year grant to support the Future of Open Scholarship work and grow IOI’s research capacity.
* June - State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo awards a $20,000 USD one-year grant to support the Future of Open Scholarship work and grow IOI’s research capacity.
* June - North Carolina State University awards a $10,000 USD one-year grant to support the Future of Open Scholarship work.
* July - Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) awards $50,000 USD one-year grant to support the second JROST conference.
* July - Indiana University-Bloomington awards $10,000 USD one-year grant to support the Future of Open Scholarship work.
* July - Iowa State University awards $5,000 USD one-year grant to support the Future of Open Scholarship work.
* August - [Educopia](https://educopia.org/) awards $20,000 seven-month subgrant to IOI to administer an assessment pilot and the *Next Generation Library Publishing* project.
* September - SPARC Europe and IOI publish *Ten Key Interviews*.
* October - CZI awards $80,000 USD one-year grant to provide operational support and grow IOI’s research capacity.
* October - Wellcome Trust awards $40,000 USD one-year grant to support the Future of Open Scholarship work and analysis of the open monograph ecosystem.
* October - Libraries of the Big Ten Academic Alliance award a $20,000 USD one-year grant to provide operational support and grow IOI’s research capacity.
* October - *Scoping the Open Science Infrastructure Landscape in Europe* research report published by SPARC Europe in collaboration with IOI.
* November - Schmidt Futures grants IOI an additional $150,000 USD (matching gift of their initial 2019 grant).
* December - [Joint Roadmap for Open Science Tools (JROST)](https://investinopen.org/jrost2020-agenda/) event takes place online. Videos of the over 50 sessions can be accessed [here](https://investinopen.org/blog/jrost-videos-are-now-online/).
* December - IOI administers its first funding pilot via a [Rapid Response Fund](https://investinopen.org/blog/jrost-rapid-response-fund/), supported by Hypothesis, Crossref, CZI and ITHAKA. In total, [$50,000 USD was awarded to 8 projects](https://investinopen.org/blog/jrost-rapid-response-fund-awardees/).

## 2021
* January - Sloan Foundation awards $36,850 USD one-year grant for a Research Fellowship pilot program.
* February - [Mellon Foundation awards $135,125 USD](https://investinopen.org/blog/mellon-grant-hidden-costs-open-infrastructure/) 15-month grant to investigate hidden costs of open infrastructure.
* April - Stanford Libraries renews its support with a $5,000 USD commitment.
* May - IOI administers a community consultation to gather feedback and comment on their draft [three-year strategic plan](https://investinopen.org/blog/the-work-ahead-iois-strategic-plan/).
* May - IOI issues [action statement](https://investinopen.org/blog/take-action-to-stop-the-lock-up-of-research-and-learning/) following announcement of ProQuest acquisition by Clarivate Analytics for $5.3B USD
* May - Public event ["Building Technical Resilience in Open Infrastructure"](https://investinopen.org/blog/building-technical-resilience-video-now-live/) held online.
* June - Public event ["Maintenance & Labor of Open Infrastructure"](https://investinopen.org/blog/maintenance-and-labor-of-open-infrastructure-recap-recording-and-reading-list/) held online.
* June - Arcadia [awards](https://investinopen.org/blog/ioi-arcadia-funding/) $3,470,000 USD three-year grant to IOI to increase investment in open infrastructure for research.
* June - EBSCO makes a $35,000 USD contribution to IOI via CS&S.
* June - Public event ["Ensuring Accountability & Oversight in Open Infrastructure"](https://investinopen.org/blog/accountability-in-open-infrastructure-recap-recording-and-how-to-join-us/) held online.
* June - *[Strategic Plan for 2021-2024](https://investinopen.org/about/strategic-plan-2021-2024/)* unanimously approved by the IOI Steering Committee; launched to the public.
* August - Public [Community session](https://investinopen.org/blog/governance-community-oversight/) on IOI's governance plans and launch of the Community Oversight Council held online.
* August - *[Designing a Preparedness Model for the Future of Open Scholarship](https://zenodo.org/record/5218968#.YfHBYPXMI-Q)* research report published.
* September - [Costs of Open Infrastructure](https://investinopen.org/blog/mapping-the-costs-of-open-infrastructure/) research investigation begins.
* September-October - [Interviews](https://investinopen.org/blog/the-costs-of-open-infrastructure-conversations-with-providers-funders-and-institutions/), focus groups held as part of Costs of Open Infrastructure research.
* November - Costs of Open Infrastructure research [subjects](https://investinopen.org/blog/costs-characteristics-oi-providers/) announced.
* November - Survey of funding data [sources](https://investinopen.org/blog/funding-open-infrastructure-a-survey-of-available-data-sources/) for Costs of Open Infrastructure project published.
* December - IOI Community Oversight Council issue [statement](https://investinopen.org/blog/the-conquest-of-proquest-and-knowledge-unlatched-how-recent-mergers-are-bad-for-research-and-the-public/) in reaction to Clarivate/ProQuest acquisition and Knowledge Unlatched acquisition by Wiley.

## 2022
* January - *Catalog of Open Infrastructure Services (COIs)* launched.
* January - Public "Catalog of Open Infrastructure Services (COIs) Informational.
* January - IOI introduces the Financial Oversight Committee, a Steering Committee, the Governance & Nominating Committee, and Community Councils (no longer active).
* January - Jochai Ben-Avie, Amy Buckland, Omo Oaiya, and Lorrayne Porciuncula join IOI Steering Committee.
* Sessions" held online. Video, notes, and other resources can be accessed [here](https://investinopen.org/blog/cois-info-sessions-recap/).
* February - Emmy Tsang joins as Engagement Lead (current Director of Finance & Operations).
* February - Biweekly blogpost series “What We Are Working On” begins publication.
* February-March - [IOI Strategy retreat](https://investinopen.org/blog/strategy-retreat-recap-key-learnings-and-resources/) held.
* March- Research Organisation Registry (ROR) unique identifier assigned for IOI: [0588n4k65](https://ror.org/0588n4k65).
* April - “Defining Open Scholarly Infrastructure: Preliminary Investigation” literature review published.
* May - Community Discussion held with Afua Bruce and Amy Sample Ward.
* May - Public “[Catalog of Open Infrastructure Services (COIs) survey Q+A sessions](https://investinopen.org/blog/next-steps-for-the-catalog-of-open-infrastructure-services-cois/)” held online.
* June - Internal team strategy retreat held.
* June - Public “Response Workshop for the UNESCO global call for best practices in open science” held.
* July - IOI participates in the first session of the UNESCO Working Group on Open Science Infrastructures.
* July - First upload to IOI’s [Zotero community collection](https://zenodo.org/communities/investinopen).
* August - Community discussion held on financial health.
* September - Staff meet in New York for in-person team retreat.
* October - First [dataset published](https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7259472).
* October - Emmy presents on open infrastructure definitions at a virtual event hosted by the Berlin University Alliance.
* October-November - Week-long virtual [Funders Summit](https://investinopen.org/ioi-funders-summit-2022/) held.
* November - IOI [announced](https://investinopen.org/blog/ioi-launches-fund-to-deepen-investment-in-open-infrastructure/) intention to launch a fund in 2024 to further investment in open infrastructure globally.
* November - Mastodon feeds launched for both [IOI](https://indieweb.social/@investinopen) and OITP.
* December - Naomi presents at the ‘[Recognizing Preprint Peer Review](https://investinopen.org/blog/next-steps-for-preprint-review-infrastructure/)’ event in Virginia, US.
* December - New project “[Open Science Cloud Infrastructure for Latin America and Africa](https://investinopen.org/blog/new-project-open-science-cloud-infrastructure-and-training-for-communities-in-latin-america-and-africa/)” begins.

## 2023
* March - With the West and Central African Research and Education Network (WACREN), IOI co-hosts a workshop ‘Charting common pathways for collective action in advancing open infrastructure in Africa’ in Accra, Ghana.
* April - Katherine Skinner joins as Research Lead (current Director of Programs).
* April - [Partnership with arXiv](https://investinopen.org/blog/ioi-partners-with-arxiv-to-develop-its-new-strategic-blueprint/) to strengthen their governance and sustainability, supported by the Simons Foundation, begins.
* April - IOI receives $1M from the Mellon Foundation to build out the Catalog of Open Infrastructures Services (COIs) and test critical models to sustain open infrastructure.
* May - Call for proposals open for the Open Infrastructure Fund.
* June - IOI workshop on “[Building sustainable research infrastructures in Africa: Exploring public-private partnerships](https://investinopen.org/blog/sustaining-research-infrastructures-in-africa-by-leveraging-public-private-partnerships/)” held in Somerset West, South Africa, in conjunction with Open Repositories 2023.
* June - IOI leadership met for an in-person retreat in New York.
* August - Partnership with biorXiv, medrXiv and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory begins.
* September - IOI [receives](https://investinopen.org/blog/ioi-nsf-reasonable-costs-announcement/) $299,454 from the National Science Foundation to Investigate “Reasonable Costs” for Public Access to US Federally Funded Research and Scientific Data.
* September - Joe Deville, Robert Karanja, Louise Marston, Eunice Mercado-Lara, and Jeff Ubois join the IOI Steering Committee.
* September - IOI joins the *Year of Open Science* as a Participating Organization.
* October - Strategic support partnership begins with Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) for bioRxiv and medRxiv infrastructures.
* December - End-of-year review 2023 [published](https://investinopen.org/blog/2023-year-in-review-highlights-and-reflections/).
* December - IOI announces [Infra Finder](https://investinopen.org/blog/blog-introducing-infra-finder/), a tool to support decision-makers in navigating the open infrastructure landscape.

## 2024
* January - IOI [announces](https://investinopen.org/blog/ioi-announces-grantees-for-the-open-infrastructure-fund/) the grantees of the Open Infrastructure Fund.
* February - IOI staff and steering committee meet for an in-person retreat in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
* April - Emma Green joins IOI as Director of Development (previously Business Development & Partnerships Lead).
* April - [Infra Finder](https://infrafinder.investinopen.org) launched.
* May - [State of Open Infrastructure 2024](https://investinopen.org/state-of-open-infrastructure-2024/sooi-foreword-2024/) published.
* May - IOI introduces the Transition Committee.
* July - [2024 Survey of Recent Open Science Policy Developments](https://zenodo.org/records/11499591?ref=investinopen.org) is [published](https://investinopen.org/blog/announcing-the-2024-survey-of-recent-open-science-policy-developments/).
* August - new [2024-2027 strategic plan](https://investinopen.org/about/strategic-plan/2024-2027/) is [unveiled](https://investinopen.org/blog/unveiling-iois-new-2024-2027-strategic-plan/).
* September - Sloan Foundation awards $199,994 USD grant for a landscape analysis on community infrastructure to further open research software.
* October - Internal [organizational restructure](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ybutmovJVe4fZ8wR-hXQRckKIc7GdH5J/view?usp=drive_link) of IOI leadership, staff, and teams.
* November - Wellcome Trust confirms support for the IOI Fund for Network Adoption as a Founding Contributor.
* November - With the West and Central African Research and Education. Network (WACREN) and Institute for Contemporary Theoretical Physics (ICTP), IOI co-hosts a workshop on [strengthening Africa’s climate research infrastructure](https://investinopen.org/blog/co-designing-collective-funding-for-climate-research-data-infrastructure-in-africa/).
* November - IOI facilitates a workshop at [Forum of Open Research in the Middle East and North Africa (FORM)](https://forumforopenresearch.com/?ref=investinopen.org)’s How to be Open series with a discussion on [open infrastructure in the Middle East](https://investinopen.org/blog/ioi-facilitates-discussion-on-open-infrastructure-in-the-middle-east/).
* December - Digital Science and the Kahle Austin Foundation support the IOI Fund for Network Adoption as a Founding Contributor.
* December - [2024 Impact Report](https://investinopen.org/blog/unveiling-iois-2024-impact-report/) published.

## 2025
* January - IOI creates a [call to action](https://investinopen.org/blog/call-to-action-protect-vulnerable-infrastructure-and-research-independence/) to protect vulnerable infrastructure and research independence.
* January - Digital Infrastructure Insights Fund awards $75,000 USD grant and partners with IOI on a new research project for [community health assessments for open infrastructure](https://investinopen.org/blog/announcing-our-new-research-on-community-health-assessments-for-open-infrastructure/).
* January - Strategic support partnership with DeSci Foundation begins.
* February - Press release [announcing](https://investinopen.org/blog/invest-in-open-infrastructure-announces-2-7m-commitment-from-founding-group-for-the-ioi-fund-for-network-adoption/) $2.7M Founding Contributions for the IOI Fund for Network Adoption.
* March - Introduction of the IOI Fund Subcommittee.
* March - Call for Proposals for the [IOI Fund for Network Adoption](https://investinopen.org/blog/call-for-proposals-ioi-fund-for-network-adoption/) open.
* March - [Karger Publishers Foundation](https://investinopen.org/blog/announcing-the-newest-founding-contributor-of-the-ioi-fund-karger-publishers-foundation-2/) becomes a Founding Contributor for the IOI Fund for Network Adoption.
* May - [State of Open Infrastructure 2025](https://investinopen.org/state-of-open-infrastructure-2025) published.
* June - Tracy Hinds joins the IOI Steering Committee.

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## See also

- IOI's [News & Updates](https://investinopen.org/blog/)
- Archived copy of this page (via the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine): https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://hackmd.io/@investinopen/timeline

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This page first published: 2022-02-07

###### tags: `about-us`
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