CETAF took part in the Biodiversity Genomics Europe – BGE Connects event, held in Brussels from 30 September to 1 October 2025. The two-day gathering brought together leading scientists, policymakers, and stakeholders to reflect on the state of biodiversity genomics in Europe and explore pathways to advance its application in science, policy, and the bioeconomy.
Ana Casino Rubio, Executive Director of CETAF and Deputy Coordinator of DiSSCo (Distributed System of Scientific Collections), participated in the discussion panel “Biodiversity Genomics Infrastructure in Europe”, alongside Dimitris Koureas, Elena Buzan, Gert Verreet, and Andrew Smith.
In her intervention, Ana Casino underlined the central role of connecting biological collections, promoting taxonomy, and facilitating open access to essential data for both science and biodiversity policy. She emphasised DiSSCo’s mission to streamline access to biodiversity data and reduce complexity for users, stating:
“Our goal is to reduce complexity for users, enabling scientists and policymakers to understand biodiversity as a whole.”
She further highlighted DiSSCo’s unique value proposition:
“Its value proposition is to have a unique entry point for biodiversity data based on physical specimens. We are building the digital surrogates, the common space for all the digital data that can be linked to specimens in biodiversity data.”
With over 100 institutions from 24 countries behind it, DiSSCo represents a pan-European effort to make biodiversity data FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) and to support the effective use of scientific collections for research and policy. As Ana Casino noted, this infrastructure is key to multiplying impact and lowering the complexity barrier not only for scientists but also for policymakers seeking to access and interpret biodiversity data in an integrated way.
BGE Connects 2025
The BGE Connects event, organised by Biodiversity Genomics Europe (BGE), combined a scientific symposium — “Unlocking the power of genomic science for nature and the bioeconomy in Europe” — at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, and a policy roundtable — “Biodiversity innovation: Enabling technology for nature and green growth” — at the Permanent Representation of the Netherlands to the EU. Together, these sessions fostered a dynamic exchange between the scientific and policy communities on how genomic innovation can contribute to biodiversity conservation, resilience, and sustainable growth in Europe.
Through CETAF’s and DiSSCo’s active participation, the event reaffirmed the importance of European scientific collections and taxonomic expertise as foundational infrastructures for biodiversity genomics and the transition towards a sustainable and data-driven bioeconomy.