The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is taking the FAIR principles seriously at the highest levels and wants to ensure that its investments generate open and FAIR data. CABI and the Open Data Institute (ODI) have been helping the Gates Foundation assess how FAIR data might be operationalized in their agricultural development programs. Specifically, the Foundation has requested support towards a better process for grant making which puts good practices in the stewardship of open and FAIR data – especially of very data-rich programs -- at the heart of new program development, rather than as an afterthought. How can the CGIAR data community help us as we work with the Foundation to understand the real costs of doing the right thing, and the benefits of planning for open and FAIR data -- including its licensing, interoperability and reuse -- right from the outset rather than as an (often) undercosted afterthought? Do we know what good data policy and practice looks like? What are the incentives for us to change the way we manage data for FAIRness?
