Global Biodiversity Information Facility

Their core work

GBIF is an international data infrastructure organization headquartered in Copenhagen that aggregates, standardizes, and provides open access to biodiversity data from around the world. Within H2020, they contribute expertise in building interoperable digital infrastructures for scientific collections — linking biodiversity observations, specimen records, genomic data, and taxonomic literature into unified knowledge systems. Their core value lies in making fragmented biodiversity information discoverable, machine-readable, and reusable across research communities.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

GBIF's H2020 involvement spans 2019–2024, a relatively short window, but a clear shift is visible. Early projects (SYNTHESYS PLUS, DiSSCo Prepare) focused on the physical-to-digital transition — digitising natural history collections, building distributed infrastructure, and connecting museums and herbaria. The most recent project (BiCIKL, 2021) moves upstream toward knowledge integration: linked open data, biodiversity knowledge graphs, and cross-linking genomics with literature and specimen records.

GBIF is evolving from a data aggregator into a knowledge integration platform, increasingly focused on linking biodiversity data across domains (genomics, literature, specimens) through semantic web technologies.

How they like to work

GBIF participates exclusively as a partner, never coordinating — consistent with their role as an infrastructure provider that plugs into larger research consortia. With 55 unique partners across 25 countries in just 3 projects, they operate in very large consortia (averaging ~18 partners per project). This broad network suggests they are a trusted infrastructure node that many institutions want in their consortium for data backbone capabilities.

Despite only 3 projects, GBIF has collaborated with 55 distinct partners across 25 countries, reflecting their position as a central node in the European biodiversity research infrastructure community. Their network spans nearly the full breadth of EU member states and associated countries.

What sets them apart

GBIF is not a typical research organization — it is the world's largest open biodiversity data network, serving as the shared backbone that connects national biodiversity databases, museum collections, and research institutions globally. For consortium builders, including GBIF signals serious commitment to FAIR data principles and open science compliance. Few organizations can match their ability to provide ready-made, standards-compliant biodiversity data infrastructure at scale.

Highlights from their portfolio

• BiCIKL
  Largest funding share (EUR 388,750) and the most ambitious scope — building an integrated knowledge library linking biodiversity data across genomics, literature, and specimens.
• SYNTHESYS PLUS
  Part of the flagship initiative to unify access to Europe's natural history collections, involving a massive consortium of museums and research institutions.
• DiSSCo Prepare
  Preparatory phase for DiSSCo, one of the ESFRI landmark research infrastructures — positions GBIF at the foundation of a major pan-European infrastructure.