The TETTRIX project was officially launched during a three-day kick-off meeting held at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS) in Brussels from 7 to 9 October 2026.
The kick-off brought the partners together to discuss the project’s shared objectives, present the work planned across its four pillars and agree on the first steps for its implementation.
This is the first step of the project, which was launched to address some of the major challenges facing taxonomy today, including biodiversity loss, climate change, and the growing demand for reliable biodiversity knowledge to support evidence-based policymaking.
Building a connected European taxonomic system
Coordinated by CETAF, TETTRIX builds on the work of TETTRIs, which developed and tested tools, strategies and new approaches for the taxonomic community. TETTRIX will take this work further by connecting resources and expertise that are still spread across different institutions, platforms and scientific communities.
CETAF CEO and TETTRIX Coordinator Ana Casino officially opened the project and presented its wider context within the European biodiversity landscape.
“What we aim to do with TETTRIX is to unify scattered resources into a comprehensive, connected and integrated taxonomic system.”
As she mentioned, TETTRIX will bring together people, collections, data, digital tools, infrastructures and services. The aim is to create a system that makes taxonomic knowledge easier to find, connect and use. This work is intended to benefit not only researchers, but also policymakers, businesses and society.
Ana Casino also emphasised that biodiversity conservation starts with knowledge. Species need to be identified and understood before they can be monitored and protected. Europe already has world-class scientific collections, taxonomic experts, research infrastructures, digital platforms and centuries of biodiversity records. However, many of these resources remain fragmented or difficult to access.
Connecting knowledge and technology
“Environmental pressures are increasing at the same time as governments, businesses and society need more reliable information about nature”, Ana Casino explained while highlighting that technologies such as genomics, automated imaging, artificial intelligence and new data infrastructures are also changing how biodiversity knowledge is produced and used.
These technologies offer new opportunities for taxonomy, but more data and more tools do not automatically create a connected knowledge system. Resources often use different terminology, identifiers and technical standards, making it difficult to combine and reuse information.
TETTRIX will work to improve these connections while ensuring that technology supports taxonomic knowledge and expert validation.
“Technology accelerates the workflow, but only expertise makes it trustworthy.”
Ana Casino
The project will also address the loss and uneven distribution of taxonomic expertise. It will improve access to training, support new professional pathways and help current and future taxonomists develop the skills needed to work with new technologies.
The European perspective
During the opening day, the European perspective was also heard. Gilles Doignon, Team Leader for Biodiversity and Nature-Based Solutions at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, and Colombe Warin, Project Adviser at the European Research Executive Agency, were present at the event.
Their interventions placed TETTRIX within the wider European research and policy landscape. They addressed the current opportunity for taxonomy, the expectations placed on Horizon Europe projects and the importance of turning research results into useful tools, knowledge and policy input.
They also highlighted the value of creating synergies with related European projects and initiatives. The meeting included a presentation of Biodiversity Genomics Europe Plus (BGE+), opening the discussion on possible shared activities and long-term cooperation.
From plans to practical work
The second and third days focused on the four pillars that structure TETTRIX’s work: Integrate, Transform, Upskill and Demonstrate. Through a series of presentations and breakout sessions, the work package leaders explained the tools, services and activities that will bring each pillar into practice.
The coordinators presented their plans, the tools they will develop and the connections that will be needed across the project. The presentations were followed by breakout sessions where partners started discussing priorities, responsibilities and the first steps for their work.
Opening the session on Pillar 1, Anton Güntsch from FUB-BGBM explained that its four work packages will concentrate on the technical integration of data, tools, expertise and services. He stressed that their work would lead to practical results: “All of them will produce real platforms and real systems which you can look at and use. It is not only about standards and interface definitions; it is really about usable services.”
Güntsch then introduced TaxoTrack, the platform at the centre of WP1. It will bring together information about taxonomic research activities to identify gaps in expertise, taxa, geographical coverage and methods. Quentin Groom from Meise Botanic Garden presented WP2 and its work to strengthen the nomenclatural infrastructure needed for modern taxonomy. Andrew Davinack from NTNU then introduced GHOST, a framework designed to make hidden or not yet formally named forms of biodiversity easier to find and connect with evidence from different data sources.
Wouter Addink from Naturalis and the WP3 task leaders presented the Species AI Lab (SAIL), its model registry and the pipelines that will allow researchers to develop and use AI models for species identification. They explained how SAIL will connect with infrastructures such as DiSSCo and with the other tools being developed in TETTRIX.
Jana Hoffmann from the Senckenberg Society for Nature Research, CETAF Vice-President and WP4 leader, then presented the next development phase of the TETTRIX Marketplace. “The main scope of the work package is to make taxonomic expertise, tools and services accessible and actionable,” she explained. Building on the pilot developed during TETTRIs, the Marketplace will connect and provide access to expertise, platforms and services produced across TETTRIX, while working towards a sustainable system that can continue beyond the project.
The afternoon sessions moved from technical infrastructure to the people and organisations that will use it. Faiza Oulahsen from KPMG opened the WP5 presentation by placing the work in the context of the biodiversity crisis. She called on partners to help translate scientific knowledge into information that companies can use to assess their impacts and dependencies on biodiversity. “We need to make sure that we build a bridge between this community and the private sector,” she said.
Judite Alves from the University of Lisbon presented WP6 and explained how ethical principles, responsible research, inclusion and socioeconomic impact will be integrated throughout the project rather than assessed only at the end.
Karla Locher and Diana Dushkova from UFZ introduced WP7 and its work at the science–policy interface. Locher presented plans to develop a Knowledge Exchange Network (KEN) for taxonomy, bringing together scientists, practitioners, policymakers and other knowledge holders. She explained that this continuous exchange will help TETTRIX anticipate policy needs and transform taxonomic data and evidence into actionable knowledge, rather than responding only when information is urgently requested. Dushkova then outlined how WP7 will work with European institutions and knowledge-brokering mechanisms to co-produce accessible and policy-ready outputs.
Training and outreach completed the second day. Iasmi Stathi from the Natural History Museum of Crete presented plans for the TETTRIX Academy, professional training, certification and new career pathways for taxonomists. Alexandra Tzvetkova from Pensoft outlined how WP9 will communicate the project’s results, strengthen the Taxonomy Cluster and continue initiatives such as Taxonomy Recognition Day. She underlined the role of communication across the whole project: “Communication is not just the work package beside all the others. It is where your science meets everyone else.”
On the third day, Pavla Růžková from IBOT-CAS presented WP10 and explained how TETTRIX will use €2.4 million in cascade funding to support up to 37 satellite projects. These projects will help test and demonstrate the tools, methods and training approaches developed by the work packages. The discussion also addressed how the calls will be jointly designed, how the satellite projects will remain connected to the wider project and how their results can be incorporated into resources such as the Marketplace and TETTRIX Academy.
Preparing the next steps
On the final day, the consortium explored how the cascade funding programme will put TETTRIX tools and methods into practice. The partners also held the project’s first General Assembly and discussed the governance and advisory structures that will guide its work.
For Ana Casino, the success of TETTRIX will depend on whether the project creates something useful and lasting beyond its formal outputs:
“It is not a matter of delivering the deliverables. It is a matter of building a system that is ready to be used whenever it is needed.”
The kick-off marked the start of four years of cooperation to make European taxonomy more connected, accessible and prepared to respond to the biodiversity challenges ahead.
To mark the launch of TETTRIX, CETAF spoke with Ana Casino about the project’s goals, its main challenges and what it means for CETAF and the future of taxonomy in Europe. [Read the full interview.]