Benefit sharing on genetic resources: Modelling data access, control and willingness‐to‐pay for digital sequence information

Abstract Fair and equitable sharing of benefits derived from access to genetic resources is central to international agreements and conventions regarding the management of biodiversity. However, tensions remain between the laudable principles of benefit sharing and their practical implementation. Digital sequence information on genetic resources provides an illustrative example by placing a spotlight on the tension between (1) open data access to facilitate innovation and knowledge transfer and (2) regulated control over data use to ensure benefits are shared with custodians of traditional knowledge and genetic resources. In this study, we complement current governance mechanisms by modelling the amount of money individuals in the scientific community are prepared to pay from an allocated research budget to access DSI on genetic (kūtai) resources. Data collected from 1623 individual choices by Indigenous and non‐Indigenous scientists and managers reveal statistically significant preferences for data access, data integrity and provenance attributes. Practical implications—respondents strongly prefer to know the dataset place of origin and whether consent to use has been awarded when using DSI on genetic resources. The presence or absence of these attributes determines the amount of budget an individual researcher is willing to pay to access and use DSI during pre‐commercialisation. To support managerial decision‐making, we develop a visualisation dashboard tool that allows interested readers to simulate how alternative access and control arrangements impact willingness‐to‐pay.