Rapid advances in bioinformatics technology have seriously decreased the need for collecting genetic material in nature. Once a genome has been deposited, its genes can now be compared against hundreds of other genes for similarities and differences, helping to clarify its function and importance. The technology known as Digital Sequence Information (DSI) is key to scientific and commercial innovation in fields as diverse as medicine, food security, green energy production, and biodiversity conservation. A Policy Brief by Senior Researcher, Christian Prip describes and analyses the ongoing negotiation process under the UN Biodiversity Convention on how access to DSI could best be provided and how its values could be fairly and equitably shared to the benefit of developing countries, indigenous peoples and biodiversity.