There is a distinct energy that comes from bringing the global ORCID community together in one room. Generously hosted by Science Tokyo, the recent Consortia Interest Group gathering saw 30 regional representatives, consortia leads, and board members for two days of interactive sessions focused on deepening peer-to-peer engagement and broadening our shared community.
Consortia represent roughly 78% of ORCID’s global membership, making these shared spaces vital for nurturing the open infrastructure we build collectively. Stepping away from traditional presentations, the workshop prioritized hands-on, peer-to-peer collaboration—connecting localized insights directly to ORCID’s global strategic goals and celebrating the collective strength of our network.
Consortia leads from around the world share blueprints to support emerging regional networks
The Tokyo workshop showcased the impressive global reach of the ORCID network, bringing together leaders from across the Americas, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region. The room represented a rich cross-section of our community, featuring established networks like ORCID-CA (led by CRKN) in Canada and the ORCID US Community (led by Lyrasis) in the United States, alongside dynamic consortia across Latin America and the Caribbean, South Africa, Denmark, France, and Japan.
A highlight of the interactive discussions was exploring how mature regional models—such as those in Latin America and Australia/New Zealand—can provide valuable blueprints for emerging groups. While context varies, the dedication to building collaborative, sustainable open research infrastructure remains universal.
Workshop sessions focus on driving regional impact, data value, and long-term sustainability
A central focus of the workshop was anchoring regional initiatives within ORCID’s overarching strategic vision—specifically, Empowering Researchers, Connecting Research Information, and Advancing Trust across the global scholarly ecosystem. Attendees received updates on ORCID’s annual priorities alongside practical guidance on aligning local roadmaps to maximize institutional ROI. Across two days of structured collaboration, participants worked toward a shared Consortium Playbook aligned with the ORCID 2030 Plan, focusing on four key operational scenarios:
- Communicating Value: Leveraging stakeholder discussions, webinars, and AI tools.
- Onboarding at Scale: Supporting resource-constrained members, academic societies, and technical teams.
- Overcoming Silos: Engaging leadership to build multi-skilled teams across library, IT, research, and HR departments.
- Sustaining Engagement: Expanding into new sectors and fostering peer-to-peer member sharing.
By coordinating national and regional strategies with ORCID’s organizational objectives, consortia leads ensure their member institutions deliver richer, automated value directly to their research communities.
Spotlight on Open Science in Asia and the Global South
ORCID Board Member Elaine Tham led a special presentation on how the rapid growth of research in Asia and the Global South is reshaping global scholarly communications. While regional research outputs are surging—now overtaking high-income countries in total article volume—the ecosystem faces ongoing challenges with publication costs, access inequities, and research integrity threats like paper mills. Tham highlighted key regional adaptations, including domestic journal initiatives in China, unified national access in India, and mandatory open access policies in Japan, emphasizing how PIDs like ORCID provide the necessary transparency, attribution, and integrity to support these national transformations.
Advancing custom tools, data provenance, and PID strategies
Throughout these sessions, member growth continues to be important, but Consortia Leads also prioritized discussing the value of integrations actively contributing data and the importance of data provenance. To support this shift, consortia are actively strengthening technical capacity, conducting maturity analysis, and building custom tools—such as the NZ Hub and ORCID Data Chile—to bridge institutional systems with ORCID records. These regional innovations streamline data flows, enabling member institutions to push validated affiliation metadata directly to researcher profiles and replacing manual entry with trusted, institution-asserted data. At the same time, participants emphasized aligning local initiatives with national persistent identifier (PID) strategies, managing governance transitions, ensuring financial sustainability, and fostering cross-border expansion.
Interactive Facilitation and Collaborative Dynamics
To maximize peer-to-peer engagement, the workshop facilitated working group discussions and shared activities. Small breakout groups provided an inclusive environment where everybody could comfortably contribute, ensuring a diverse range of perspectives was captured. Participants also engaged in a reverse brainstorming exercise, collaboratively identifying potential failure modes to uncover practical, resilient methodologies that consortia leads can readily replicate within their local communities.
Peer-to-peer collaboration and cross-regional learning pave the way for sustainable global adoption
Reflecting on the gathering at Science Tokyo, one theme stood out above all others: true communities of practice happen when we shift from isolated institutional efforts to collective problem-solving across borders. Consortia leads aren’t just managing local memberships; they are actively shaping the global open research landscape. By participating in ORCID governance and specialized working groups, regional leaders ensure that localized needs directly inform our shared infrastructure.
Science Tokyo generously hosted Consortia Leads from across the Americas, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region.
The most effective way to lower barriers to ORCID adoption is to learn directly from one another in a peer-to-peer model. Rather than recreating the wheel, consortia can adapt proven outreach strategies, workflows, and technical integration blueprints that have already succeeded elsewhere. Whether it’s applying Japanese engagement models to European contexts or scaling Latin American regional frameworks, cross-regional peer learning accelerates progress and reduces friction for institutions everywhere.
This milestone gathering would not have been possible without the hospitality of Science Tokyo, whose support provided a vibrant environment for international collaboration. Sincere thanks also go to our regional partners and every participating consortium lead who brought their insights, energy, and vision to Tokyo.
Growing the global ORCID community one consortium at a time
Of course, the work doesn’t stop here. All members and consortia representatives are warmly invited to join upcoming Consortia Interest Group sessions, participate in our active working groups, and continue driving the future of our global open research ecosystem together.
The true advantage of an ORCID consortium comes down to strength from the collective. As collaborative communities of practice, consortia enable member institutions to share technical solutions and reduce costs. Interested in bringing these collaborative benefits to your region? Reach out to us to explore forming a new ORCID consortium.
