A data revolution to GROW Colombia’s bioeconomy
Colombia’s biodiversity is soon to be revealed in greater depth than ever before, stimulated by a new consortium that will allow the world’s second most megadiverse country to help drive the big data revolution.
The “C3Biodiversidad” consortium, created by 16 leading Colombian institutions with the support of Earlham Institute, BRIDGE Colombia, and GROW Colombia, will build capacity in research cyberinfrastructure in a country teeming with wildlife and biological information.
A better understanding of Colombia’s biodiversity on a national scale will drive the growth of the Colombian economy. Over the next few years, enabled by the recent peace agreement, large amounts of data about the megafauna will be collected, and the capacity to share and analyse this information needs to keep pace with the vast wealth of information gleaned from these new explorations.
In June this year, Earlham Institute organised a workshop in Bogotá, Colombia, that brought together important players in the country to design a strategy to develop research cyberinfrastructure that can cope with these needs.
Colombia is a country of stunning beauty and megadiversity; geographically, culturally and biologically. A greater understanding of this biodiversity is not only key to conserving and promoting it, but can also drive economic growth, social equality and a sustainable peace in Colombia, especially now that the FARC rebels have put down their weapons.
