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Creating 76% stated that without data shared on open
repositories, they would not be able to offer
their product or service.
customer value 89% stated that a product or service has more

features because of access to shared or open
from open data repositories.

63% stated that without access to registries,
ontologies, and dictionaries published on open
repositories, they would not be able to offer
their product or service.
Ventures that operate in the bioinformatics sector
can either cater for many different life science
92% features because of access to registries,
application areas or be highly specialised and stated that a product or service has more
focused. We have surveyed a range of companies in ontologies, and dictionaries shared on open
this sector to understand how they operate, which repositories.
public resources they use in their business and how
they contribute to the economy.
the European Genome-Phenome Archive (EGA)), as
Our survey of over 50 bioinformatics SMEs has well as open software or algorithmic workflows.
indicated that all surveyed companies use openly
available resources, such as data, software or 68% of respondents indicated that large scale data
standards at varying degrees to create value for analysis lies at the core of their services, and 62%
clients. Figure 3 gives a general overview of firms considered access to open software to be critical
operating in this industry segment. Business input for doing their business efficiently. Our survey
can consist of open data, such as publications (e.g. confirmed the importance of open resources for
from Europe PMC), protein sequence information bioinformatics companies to improve existing or
(e.g. from UniProt), or genome sequences (e.g. from develop new products and services.

Input examples Output examples

Organism

Protein
Diagnostic
Genomics tests
Data
Public data Transcript New drugs
and vaccines
Publications

Patents Cosmetics
Animal food
Variants
Active Washing
substances powders
Business internal
appropriation strategies Medical
using expert knowledge devices
or technologies Technology
Proprietary data Data & solutions
such as AI/ML
other
resources

Figure 3. Bioinformatics companies often combine open and proprietary resources
to generate a product or service.