‌In recent days, the International Cooperation Program on Microbial Big Data Sharing and Utilization, led by the World Data Center for Microorganisms (WDCM) of the Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, was officially endorsed by the United Nations “International Decade of Science for Sustainable Development (2024–2033)” (IDSSD) Initiative. This selection demonstrates that the project’s practical approach—leveraging the global microbial big-data system to advance standardized management, cross-border interoperable sharing, and the sustainable development and utilization of microbial resources—is closely aligned with the core development goals of the IDSSD Initiative.

WDCM is a globally authoritative service hub for microbial culture collection resource data. It has long undertaken core functions, including aggregating global microbial resource inventories, implementing standardized data governance, and coordinating the international microbial culture collection network.

As a microbiome big data infrastructure independently developed in China, WDCM has continuously improved multi-dimensional workflows for the collection, quality control and archiving of global microbial data covering strains, genomes and metabolomes since its establishment. It has built an integrated microbial data sharing service platform connecting culture collections, research institutions, universities and industrial platforms worldwide. WDCM has unified global metadata specifications, data submission standards, and data exchange procedures for microbial resources, effectively addressing common industry challenges such as inconsistent global microbial data standards, severe data silos, high barriers to cross-border data sharing, and incomplete traceability chains. Up to now, WDCM has aggregated microbial resource data from more than 900 culture collections across 81 countries and regions worldwide, integrating information on over 4.99 million microbial strains with a total data volume exceeding 8 PB. It has developed a suite of internationally authoritative databases, including GCM, gcType, gcRef, gcMeta, gcPathogen, and Fungal Name, forming a world-leading and well-established microbial big data repository.

In the field of collaborative global governance of microbial resources, WDCM spearheads a transnational microbial data cooperation network. It has partnered with microbial culture collections, research institutes, and international biological data organizations across countries to advance the collaborative development of microbial big data. Its solutions have been implemented in partnership with numerous international institutions and organizations from Portugal, Brazil, Chile, Thailand, South Korea, South Africa, Uzbekistan, Malaysia, Indonesia, and other countries. It assigns unified, interpretable, and traceable standardized digital identities to microbial strains, gene sequences, and functional experimental data from participating nations, opening channels for data interoperability among institutions and countries and substantially improving efficiency for global microbial resource mining, comparative analysis, and joint research and development.

Taking its selection for the IDSSD Initiative as an important opportunity, WDCM will further iterate and upgrade its global microbial big data technical platform. It will refine cross-border microbial data sharing rules, quality control standards and secure circulation mechanisms, deepen multilateral cooperation with microbial culture collections, research institutes and international biological data organizations worldwide, expand the reach of the international collaborative microbial data sharing network, and foster an open, equitable and sustainable global microbial data governance system. Supported by its microbial big data infrastructure, WDCM will contribute to global microbial resource conservation, life science innovation, and the sustainable development of the bioeconomy.

International Cooperation Program on Microbial Big Data Sharing and Utilization (Image by WDCM）