The BioCISE project - Resource Development for a Biological Collection Information Service in Europe  <B>The BioCISE project - Resource Development for a Biological Collection Information Service in Europe </B><P> <EM><B></B></EM><B>Walter G. Berendsohn</B><BR> Botanical Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin-Dahlem, Koenigin-Luise-Strasse 6-8, D-14191 Berlin, Germany<P> BioCISE is a Concerted Action project funded by the European Commission, DG XII, within the Biotechnology Programme. BioCISE will identify and analyse biological collection information resources and catalogue biodiversity informatics expertise. A consortium will be formed to develop a funding proposal for the implementation of a European Biological Collection Information Service. <BR> Apart from their traditional role in systematics, biological collections can directly contribute to applied research. For example, collections can provide research materials from their holdings or facilitate access to organisms through information they hold on the natural occurrence of organisms. Moreover, they ensure that the results of scientific research are reproducible by safeguarding the long term availability of vouchers of investigated organisms. <BR> In many fields Europe still houses the most extensive biological collections world-wide, which are and have been maintained at a significant cost over long periods of time. An effective access can only be achieved through networked information systems, which are to disseminate data on the millions of objects present in collections. The ease of access to advanced computer systems has already brought about a tremendous increase in the amount of data electronically available. The BioCISE resource development project will tackle the problem of unavailability and incompatibility of collection information. A survey will identify data resources and elucidate structural features of existing datasets using the CDEFD information model as a reference. Software companies and individuals who possess the needed interdisciplinary knowledge to implement biological collection databases will be identified. All results of the project will be published on the Internet (http://www.bgbm.fu-berlin.de/biocise/). <BR> The project will thus prepare a sound collaborative technical and structural base for a Biological Collection Information Service in Europe, which can unveil the rich resources contained in European biological collections and improve their accessibility for industrial and public-sector research.<P>