Report profiles 420 key actors, maps 778 organisations in 100 + countries, and links to a live Observatory for ongoing updates
A decade ago, most people could name only a couple of institutions that shaped the world’s data ecosystem. Today, questions about who controls data, where, and for whose benefit dominate debates on artificial intelligence, public-health infrastructure, and even climate monitoring. Yet the field has remained oddly unmapped: fragmented across NGOs, think-tanks, companies, government initiatives, funders and coalitions that seldom know of each other or connect to a bigger picture.
The 2025 Datasphere Governance Atlas released today by the Datasphere Initiative closes that gap. The 45-page report offers the most detailed portrait to date of the actors, ideas and money driving data policy world-wide. It charts 420 entities, 358 organizations and 62 funders from privacy regulators in Nairobi to open-data labs in Bogotá and standards bodies in Brussels.
“Trends and vocabularies around data change lives as surely as trends on the field of trade or climate,” says Lorrayne Porciuncula, Executive Director of the Datasphere Initiative. “We built the Atlas so that policymakers, funders, journalists, and citizens can start from the same facts instead of searching in the dark.”
Charting a fast-moving landscape
The Atlas began as a simple spreadsheet curated by researchers at the Datasphere Initiative, encouraged by peers of other organizations. Over two years it grew into a full interactive dashboard and an analytical deep-dive that surfaces insights, identifies gaps, and fosters coordination in a rapidly evolving ecosystem.
Their work reveals a field that is expanding quickly, but not evenly:
- Civil society leads the charge of field-building. NGOs and multi-stakeholder coalitions make up 60 mapped actors, shaping agendas on AI, gender and climate.
- The Global South is now a driver, not a follower. 61% of profiled entities focus primarily on Africa, Latin America, or South and Southeast Asia, challenging the notion that data norms flow only from the North.
- AI, health, and climate have become test beds. These three sectors account for almost two-thirds of recent governance experiments, from algorithmic-audit sandboxes to data-trust pilots.
- Funding remains thin and uneven. Philanthropic and public investment has risen, yet many promising initiatives remain under-resourced.
Each section of the report pairs these findings with clear visualisations and short case stories, making the data and analysis easy to grasp and to cite.
From reference book to living resource
A static report, however detailed, ages the moment it is published. That is why every datapoint in the Atlas also feeds the forthcoming Datasphere Observatory — an online, crowd-curated platform the Initiative will unveil at the United Nations Internet Governance Forum 2025 later this month.
Contributors will be able to suggest new actors or corrections; an editorial team will review each submission, ensuring the map stays authoritative while reflecting real-time change.
Download the Atlas and join the next chapter
The 2025 Datasphere Governance Atlas is openly available:
- PDF (6 MB): [Download now]
- Early access to the Datasphere Observatory: [Request invitation]
By bringing the entire ecosystem into one place and then keeping it alive, the Datasphere Initiative hopes to make agile, fairer data governance not just possible, but within anyone’s reach.
About the Datasphere Initiative
The Datasphere Initiative is a think-and-do tank advancing innovative approaches to data governance. It collaborates with governments, civil society, and the private sector to co-design practical solutions that responsibly unlock the value of data. Through sandbox experiments, capacity building, and actionable policy tools, the organization supports stakeholders in navigating the complexities of today’s data-driven world. Its mission is to responsibly unlock the value of data for all.
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