The UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science affirms the importance of Open Infrastructure as one of the key pillars of Open Science. The Recommendation calls for the development of multinational, regional, and national Open Science platforms, as integrated and federated e-infrastructures, and urges stakeholders to ensure that no one is left behind. The idea to bring together partners to co-design and co-build the Global Open Science Cloud (GOSC) originated at the CODATA 2019 Beijing conference. Launched in 2021, the GOSC Initiative is now an important component of the ISC CODATA Decadal Programme ‘Making Data Work for Cross-Domain Grand Challenges’, in the International Science Council’s Action Plan, and is supported by seed funding from the Chinese Academy of Science (CAS). CODATA and the Computer Network Information Center (CNIC), CAS work together to coordinate and support the international collaborations around GOSC.