WorldFish
WorldFish today launched the CGIAR Asia Digital Hub at its headquarters in Penang, Malaysia, establishing a regional powerhouse for digital innovation in food, land and water systems across Asia.
A flagship initiative of CGIAR’s global Digital Transformation Accelerator, the Hub will test, incubate and scale digital public goods that support sustainable food production, climate resilience and inclusive development.
The launch also marks a major milestone in WorldFish’s 50-year legacy of scientific leadership, from pioneering global databases like FishBase and ReefBase still widely used by researchers today, to advancing AI-driven tools for the future of food systems.
“The Asia Digital Hub is designed to equip policymakers, scientists, and communities with the digital tools they need to respond to real-world challenges. Hosting it at WorldFish reflects our commitment to making data and innovation accessible, actionable, and responsive to the needs of the people we serve,” said Dr Essam Yassin Mohammed, Director General of WorldFish.
The Hub reflects CGIAR’s commitment to building a more collaborative, interoperable digital future for global food systems.
The Hub was officially opened with a ribbon-cutting led by CGIAR Chief Scientist Dr. Sandra Milach, on behalf of CGIAR Executive Managing Director Dr Ismahane Elouafi, who shared a statement for the occasion.
“Fisheries and aquaculture are the cornerstone of food systems transformation,” said Dr Elouafi. “This Hub will strengthen digital capacity across Asia and support the more than 800 million people worldwide who rely on aquatic foods.”
As part of the launch, attendees were introduced to several ongoing digital initiatives including AquaData, a WorldFish led digital knowledge platform to make curated data and evidence accessible and understandable by different users, from farmers to policy makers.
The launch gave attendees the first look at Coasts Explorer, an open-source platform leveraging AI to combine open source fisheries data from different countries. Coasts is built onto the Peskas software, currently scaling in Asia and Africa to bring near real-time monitoring and decision-support for small-scale fisheries.
“Digital tools like Coasts Explorer, Peskas and AquaData can transform how we manage food systems. They put timely and accurate data into the hands of decision-makers. The potential for digital innovation in this space is enormous, and the Hub provides a vital platform to test, incubate and scale tools that support sustainable food production, climate resilience and inclusive development,” said Dr Alex Tilley, Digital and Data Science Lead at WorldFish.
The CGIAR Asia Digital Hub will provide a collaborative virtual and physical space for co-designing digital innovations, convening training workshops, and accelerating data-driven decision-making across CGIAR partners and national systems.