The SCOAP3 (Sponsoring Consortium for Open Access Publishing in Particle Physics) initiative is an international partnership to convert to Open Access peer-reviewed articles in the field of High-Energy Physics. In operation since January 2014, it counts partners representing over 2.000 libraries in 37 countries, co-operates with 10 journals, and will support publication of about 4.000 articles a year. SCOAP3 builds on half a century tradition of free dissemination of information in High-Energy Physics, and leverages the collaborative culture of its co-ordinating agency: CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research. SCOAP3 defines the publication of peer-reviewed articles as a service which is centrally paid by a single agent, for the global benefit of the scientific community, and with the global support of libraries, research organisation and funding agencies. This conversation will describe the scholarly communication infrastructure in High-Energy Physics as the precondition for the implementation of SCOAP3, the innovations of the initiative and the lesson learned in building the first global Open Access partnership. Some consideration on the potential to adapt the model to other endeavours will be offered, together with an outlook of the future of the initiative.