A few weeks ago, I shared information about the availability of the report "Life Cycle Decisions for Biomedical Data: The Challenge of Forecasting Costs, produced by a National Academies Committee that I had the pleasure of participating in. Members of the committee will be offering a briefing on this on July 20. There is no charge, but you'll need to register at

Forecasting Data Costs for Researchers, Funders, and Storage Providers Tickets, Thursday, August 13-Thursday, August 27, 2020  •  4 PM-5 PM UTC | Eventbrite

Join the National Academies for a webinar series on how to plan for life cycle data costs for researchers, funders, and storage providers.

For more about the work of the committee, see

Forecasting Costs for Preserving, Archiving, and Promoting Access to Biomedical Data

This study will develop and demonstrate a framework for forecasting long-term costs for preserving, archiving, and accessing various types of biomedical data and estimating potential future benefits to research.

The report is online here:

Life-Cycle Decisions for Biomedical Data

Biomedical research results in the collection and storage of increasingly large and complex data sets. Preserving those data so that they are discoverable, accessible, and interpretable accelerates scientific discovery and improves health outcomes, but requires that researchers, data curators, and data archivists consider the long-term disposition of data and the costs of preserving, archiving, and promoting access to them. Life Cycle Decisions for Biomedical Data examines and assesses approache...

Clifford Lynch Director, CNI