SYNTHESYS PLUS · Project

AI-Powered Digitization Platform Unlocking Europe's Natural History Collections for Business

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Imagine Europe's museums and universities have billions of plant, animal, and mineral specimens sitting in drawers — an enormous library of nature that's mostly unsearchable. This project built an AI-powered system that can photograph, label, and catalog these specimens at high speed, plus a single online portal (called ELViS) where anyone can request access to physical or digital collections across 34 institutions in 16 countries. Think of it as turning dusty museum cabinets into a searchable Google for biodiversity data — including 3D scans you can examine from your desk.

By the numbers

partner institutions connected

countries covered

EUR 10,000,000

EU investment in the platform

deliverables produced

SMEs involved in the consortium

Since 2004

programme running continuously

The business problem

What needed solving

Companies in environmental consulting, biotechnology, and agriculture need fast, reliable access to verified species data and specimen records for impact assessments, natural product discovery, and pest identification. Today, this information is locked inside museum cabinets across dozens of institutions, requiring physical visits and manual expert identification — a process that is slow, expensive, and doesn't scale.

The solution

What was built

The project delivered the ELViS unified access system (a single gateway to physical, digital, and molecular collections), the Specimen Data Refinery (an AI-powered cloud platform for automated specimen data extraction and annotation), standardised data pipelines for 3D scans, and a helpdesk — totalling 32 deliverables across 34 institutions.

Audience

Who needs this

Environmental impact assessment firms needing fast biodiversity baseline dataBiotech companies doing bioprospecting and natural compound screeningAgTech companies building automated pest and disease identificationGeospatial data companies enriching maps with biodiversity layersEdTech platforms creating interactive natural history content with 3D specimens

Business applications

Who can put this to work

Environmental Consulting

SME

Target: Environmental impact assessment firms

If you are an environmental consulting firm dealing with biodiversity baseline surveys that require weeks of specialist identification — this project developed the Specimen Data Refinery, an AI-powered platform that dramatically speeds up species identification and data extraction from natural history specimens. With access to collections across 34 institutions in 16 countries, your teams can verify species records digitally instead of traveling to museums.

Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology

mid-size

Target: Bioprospecting and natural product discovery companies

If you are a biotech company searching for natural compounds but struggling to locate and access relevant biological specimens — this project built the ELViS unified access system connecting physical, digital, and molecular collections across Europe. Instead of contacting 34 institutions separately, you submit one request through a single gateway to find the organisms you need for screening.

Agricultural Technology

any

Target: Pest identification and crop protection companies

If you are an agtech company that needs fast, accurate identification of pest species or crop pathogens — this project developed AI tools and automated services for extracting and annotating specimen data, plus cloud-hosted workflows for processing 3D scans. These tools can help you build or improve automated pest and disease identification systems using verified museum reference data.

Frequently asked

Quick answers

What would it cost my company to access these tools and collections?

SYNTHESYS PLUS was publicly funded with EUR 10,000,000 from the EU. The virtual access programme and digitisation-on-demand services were designed for an expanded user community. Access terms and potential costs for commercial users should be discussed with the coordinator, as the tools are transitioning to DiSSCo for long-term sustainability.

Can these AI tools handle industrial-scale data processing?

The Specimen Data Refinery was specifically built to 'dramatically speed up the digital mobilisation of natural history collections' using cutting-edge AI. The cloud platform hosts tools as openly accessible services with standard workflows. Based on available project data, it was designed for high-throughput processing, though exact volume benchmarks are not specified.

Who owns the IP, and can I license or integrate these tools?

This was a Research and Innovation Action (RIA) funded by the EU, with 14 research organisations and 8 universities as primary partners. The cloud platform and tools were designed to be openly accessible. Specific licensing terms for commercial use should be clarified directly with the Natural History Museum (UK) as coordinator.

Is this still actively maintained or was it a one-off project?

SYNTHESYS PLUS is the fourth iteration of a programme running since 2004. The project explicitly states that DiSSCo — a European ESFRI initiative — will take over maintenance and sustainability of all SYNTHESYS PLUS products. This means the tools and infrastructure have a clear long-term support path.

How easy is it to integrate these tools into our existing workflows?

The project delivered a cloud platform making services and workflows openly accessible as a toolkit, with authentication and authorisation infrastructure built in. Standard data pipelines and workflows were developed for complex digital content including 3D scans. Based on available project data, the system was designed for interoperability with existing research data standards.

What data standards and formats does the platform support?

The project brings together global natural science organisations including GBIF, TDWG, and GGBN, which set the international standards for biodiversity data. The 32 deliverables include data pipelines using these established community standards, making outputs compatible with global biodiversity databases.

Consortium

Who built it

The consortium of 34 partners across 16 countries is heavily research-oriented, with 14 research organisations and 8 universities forming the core — exactly what you'd expect for a collections infrastructure project. The 5 industry partners (15% ratio) and 4 SMEs signal that commercial applications exist but aren't the primary focus. Led by the Natural History Museum in London, the partnership spans major European and international biodiversity hubs including institutions in the US, Canada, and Israel. For a business looking to leverage this, the key contact path runs through the coordinator, with DiSSCo as the long-term operational entity.

NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUMCoordinator · UK
STICHTING NATURALIS BIODIVERSITY CENTERparticipant · NL
SENCKENBERG GESELLSCHAFT FUR NATURFORSCHUNGparticipant · DE
HELSINGIN YLIOPISTOparticipant · FI
Global Biodiversity Information Facilityparticipant · DK
THE UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTERparticipant · UK
UNIVERSITY OF GUELPHinternationalpartner · CA
ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS KEWparticipant · UK
NATURHISTORISKA RIKSMUSEETparticipant · SE
HELLENIC CENTRE FOR MARINE RESEARCHparticipant · EL
NATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURES FOR RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGYparticipant · EL
MAGYAR TERMESZETTUDOMANYI MUZEUMparticipant · HU
INSTITUT ROYAL DES SCIENCES NATURELLES DE BELGIQUEparticipant · BE
KOBENHAVNS UNIVERSITETparticipant · DK
ROYAL BOTANIC GARDEN EDINBURGHparticipant · UK
CONSORTIUM OF EUROPEAN TAXONOMIC FACILITIESparticipant · BE
NARODNI MUZEUM-NATIONAL MUSEUM NMparticipant · CZ
MUSEUM FUR NATURKUNDE - LEIBNIZ-INSTITUT FUR EVOLUTIONS- UND BIODIVERSITATSFORSCHUNG AN DER HUMBOLDT-UNIVERSITAT ZU BERLINparticipant · DE
AGENCIA ESTATAL CONSEJO SUPERIOR DE INVESTIGACIONES CIENTIFICASparticipant · ES
MUSEE ROYAL DE L'AFRIQUE CENTRALEparticipant · BE
NATURHISTORISCHES MUSEUMparticipant · AT
AGENTSCHAP PLANTENTUIN MEISEparticipant · BE
LEIBNIZ-INSTITUT ZUR ANALYSE DES BIODIVERSITATSWANDELSparticipant · DE
THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEMparticipant · IL
PICTURAE BVparticipant · NL
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTIONparticipant · US
MUSEUM NATIONAL D'HISTOIRE NATURELLEparticipant · FR
FREIE UNIVERSITAET BERLINparticipant · DE
GOETEBORGS UNIVERSITETparticipant · SE

How to reach the team

Natural History Museum, London (UK) — coordinator of this EUR 10M programme since its fourth iteration

Order a report on this consortium See NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM profile →

Next steps

Talk to the team behind this work.

Want to explore how AI-powered biodiversity data tools could support your environmental assessments, bioprospecting, or species identification needs? SciTransfer can arrange a direct introduction to the team behind SYNTHESYS PLUS and help you navigate access to the platform.

Order a report on this topic More in Environment & Climate