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What is open science

How sharing knowledge accelerates innovation and advances discovery

September 15, 2025
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How sharing knowledge accelerates innovation and advances discovery
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in this article

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What is Open Science?

Sharing knowledge accelerates innovation and advances discovery

This video shows an Allen Institute researcher examining a tissue sample for experimentation.

We built a microscope that can image the whole brain…and then gave away the instructions for free. Why?

Open science means open for all.

The power and promise of open science

In recent decades, fueled by increasing global collaborations and technological advancements including the internet and cloud computing, there has been a growing movement to remove paywalls and barriers to sharing scientific data and resources to accelerate research.

This movement is called: Open Science.

Access for all

Open Science aims to make scientific resources available to everyone.

Often this includes sharing data, but it also applies to any other scientific resource including custom microscope designs, stem cell lines, machine learning algorithms, software, and more.

Leading in open science

The Allen Institute has been a leader in open science since our founding in 2003.

Open science is core to our mission and all we do at the Allen Institute. We share our science – formatted, visualized, and published to enable usability – along with software, lab protocols, cell lines, and more.

More collaboration in science through open resources leads to faster discoveries, such as treatments for diseases.

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about the allen institute

The Allen Institute is an independent, 501(c)(3) nonprofit research organization founded by philanthropist and visionary, the late Paul G. Allen. The Allen Institute is dedicated to answering some of the biggest questions in bioscience and accelerating research worldwide. The Institute is a recognized leader in large-scale research with a commitment to an open science model. For more information, visit alleninstitute.org.

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