What Global Biodata Coalition does

The Global Biodata Coalition (GBC) is a non-profit, virtual coalition founded in 2022 that convenes life science research funders, biodata resource managers, scientists, and policymakers to coordinate sustainable funding for global biodata infrastructure. Its members consist of 11 research funding organisations (national agencies and foundations) plus 10 observer organisations, all contributing to governance and operations; GBC does not charge for products or services, and runs its programmes at no cost to participants. According to GBC's own materials, research funders spend hundreds of millions of dollars annually on biodata resources, but this infrastructure has developed piecemeal, resulting in fragmented, duplicative, and fragile resources without coordinated long-term sustainability.

GBC's core offerings are programmes and publications rather than technology products. These include the Global Core Biodata Resources (GCBRs) designation programme (52 vetted resources across two selection rounds), the Global Inventory of 3,112 unique biodata resources, the Sustainability Lab workshop series, the GCBR Forum, the Open Letter Campaign (649 signatories), Impact Studies, and a White Paper on cooperative funding models. GBC does not build proprietary software; its value is convening, standard-setting, and curatorial. Operations are supported by an €5 million European Commission Horizon Europe grant (2025, over five years) — GBC's first major institutional funding tranche — and revenue from member contributions. The secretariat is hosted at EMBL-EBI on the Wellcome Genome Campus in Hinxton, UK, and was previously hosted by HFSPO. The leadership team is small (Executive Head Philippe Sanseau, Scientific Head Guy Cochrane, Programme Manager David Carr, Events Manager Tracey Mahoney), with further staffing planned for 2026.

Name

Global Biodata Coalition

Legal name

Global Biodata Coalition

Website

https://globalbiodata.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2022

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Global Biodata Coalition is a non-profit, UK-based coalition of 11 life science research funders, founded in 2022, that coordinates funding and advocates for the sustainability of 52 designated Global Core Biodata Resources serving scientists worldwide.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Research Infrastructure Coordination

NAICS

Grantmaking Foundations (813211), Business Associations (81391)

SIC

International Affairs (9721)

akta.pro primary industry

Environmental, Climate & Sustainability Standards & Reporting Cooperation (BPADANAI)

Keywords

• Biodata infrastructure coordination
• Research funding coalition
• Data resource sustainability
• Open science advocacy
• Biomedical research support

Headquarters

HQ city

Hinxton, Cambridgeshire

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. European Commission Grant: The European Commission granted €5 million over five years (2025) under Horizon Europe Health Research Work Programme to support GBC's efforts to develop sustainable solutions for global biodata infrastructure.
2. Member Contributions: GBC membership consists of research funding organisations (11 member organisations and 10 observer organisations as of 2022-2023) that contribute to the coalition's operations and sustainability work.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

The Global Biodata Coalition (GBC) is a non-profit coalition that convenes the world's life science and biomedical research funders to coordinate sustainable funding for critical biodata resources. It identifies and designates Global Core Biodata Resources (GCBRs), maintains a Global Inventory of biodata resources, runs Sustainability Lab workshops, and publishes White Papers and Impact Studies to develop cooperative approaches ensuring biodata resources remain freely available to researchers worldwide.

Product overview

The Global Biodata Coalition (GBC) is a coordination and advocacy organization, not a product company. It operates a suite of programs including the Global Core Biodata Resources (GCBRs) designation program, the Global Inventory of Biodata Resources, the Sustainability Lab workshop series, the GCBR Forum community, and produces publications including a White Paper and Impact Studies. The organization also runs an Open Letter Campaign for advocacy. These programs work together to coordinate funding for biodata resources and ensure sustainable support for the global biodata infrastructure.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Global Core Biodata Resources (GCBRs) Designation Program

Quantifiable outcome

• 52 Global Core Biodata Resources identified as essential infrastructure
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core, historical and minor.

• EMBL's European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 3 March 2025EMBL-EBI serves as GBC's host organisation, placing the secretariat side-by-side with world-leading biodata resources at the Wellcome Genome Campus in Hinxton, Cambridgeshire. Jo McEntyre, Interim Director of EMBL-EBI stated the goal is to catalyse mechanisms to sustainably support critical biodata resources.
• Chan Zuckerberg InitiativecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023Collaborated with GBC on the reproducible inventory of global biodata resources. Heidi Imker from University of Illinois and Ken Schackart from University of Arizona, working as consultants for GBC, collaborated with CZI and the GBC Secretariat to develop the comprehensive inventory methodology.
• Human Frontier Science Programme Organisation (HFSPO)historicalStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022HFSPO served as GBC's previous host organisation, an international program of funding for frontier research in the life sciences. Landmark moments with HFSPO include the seminal stakeholder meeting in 2016, launch of GBC's scientific programme in 2020, establishing the first set of GCBRs in 2022, and appointment of the first Executive Director.
• Global Core Biodata Resource (GCBR) ManagerscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 202252 GCBRs participate in the GCBR Forum, which met three times in 2023, to work with GBC member funders on developing sustainability models and exploring funding options for biodata resources.
• GBC Member FunderscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner11 member funding organisations including national funding agencies and foundations committed to working in partnership to develop more sustainable funding approaches for biodata resources. 10 additional observer organisations are exploring membership.
• Research ConsultingminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerGBC acknowledges the work of Research Consulting in the preparation of impact studies documenting the impact of biodata resources across sectors.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• International Science Council (ISC): ISC is a non-governmental organisation that brings together scientific bodies to advance science as a global public good. Comparable to GBC as an international scientific coordination body, though operating at higher level across all scientific disciplines.
• ELIXIR: ELIXIR coordinates life science data resources across Europe, similar to how GBC coordinates funders globally for biodata. Both organisations focus on sustaining biological data infrastructure, though ELIXIR operates as an intergovernmental infrastructure rather than a funder coalition.
• Research Data Alliance: Research Data Alliance is an international organisation that builds social and technical bridges across research data communities. Like GBC, it convenes stakeholders globally to develop shared frameworks, but covers all research domains rather than specialising in life science biodata.
• CODATA (Committee on Data for Science and Technology): CODATA is an interdisciplinary body of the International Science Council working to improve the quality, accessibility, and use of data for research. It is comparable to GBC as an international coordination body focused on research data sustainability and policy.

Broad incumbents

• National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Data Science Strategy: NIH's Office of Data Science Strategy coordinates NIH's data science activities and manages the data sharing policy for NIH-funded research. Comparable to GBC as a major funder-led effort to coordinate biodata infrastructure, though operating within a single national funder.
• Wellcome Trust: Wellcome is a major charitable foundation funding biomedical research and the host of the Wellcome Genome Campus where GBC is now based. Comparable as a large research funder whose open data policies create demand for the coordination work GBC performs.
• Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) Science Program: CZI's science program funds biomedical research infrastructure including biodata resources (and collaborated with GBC on the Global Inventory). It is comparable as a major funder of biodata resources, though operating as a philanthropic programme rather than a coordination coalition.

Regional players

• European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO): EMBO promotes excellence in the life sciences in Europe through funding, training, and publications. It is comparable to GBC as a life sciences coordination organisation, though focused on researcher development rather than data infrastructure sustainability.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/globalbiodata
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/global-biodata-coalition

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Global Biodata Coalition