The Confederation supports SwissCollNet and its digital platform of natural science collections for research
The federal government is promoting an improved access to natural science collections with a total amount of CHF 12.37 million until 2024. The digitised collections provide unique data for climate, biodiversity or agricultural research, for example. To this end, the Swiss Academy of Sciences (SCNAT) has launched the Swiss Natural History Collections Network, SwissCollNet, to collaborate with museums, universities, and botanical gardens in laying the foundations for the digitisation and long-term management and use of the collections.
With a treasure of more than 60 million specimens of animals, plants, fungi, stones, soil samples and fossils, Switzerland’s museums, universities, and botanical gardens store remarkably extensive collections, as pointed out by a 2019 SCNAT report. Nevertheless, only 17 percent of these objects are digitised. This means that a large part of the collections, containing unique data on the state of the environment, is hardly accessible for research.
The Confederation has now recognised the great need for action. With this funding support, SwissCollNet can now lay the foundations for the establishment and maintenance of a perennial digital platform for research on Switzerland’s biological and geological collections. A particular attention will be paid to the coordination with similar initiatives which are currently underway in many other countries, especially in Europe.
“With its financial support to launch the project, the Confederation is ensuring that Switzerland does not miss the boat. In the coming years, digital research platforms will emerge from the natural science collections and connect globally. This large pool of data will help us to better deal with pests, environmental toxins or the climate and biodiversity crisis” says biologist Christoph Scheidegger, President of SwissCollNet.
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Schweizer Museen, botanische Gärten und Universitäten können beim Netzwerk Naturhistorische Sammlungen (SwissCollNet) Projekte zur besseren Erschliessung und Digitalisierung ihrer naturwissenschaftlichen Sammlungen einreichen.
Image: Lisa Schäublin / NM Bern
Landwirtschaft, Umweltschutz, Verkehrsinfrastrukturen – viele Erkenntnisse stützen auf Wissen aus naturwissenschaftlichen Sammlungen. In der Schweiz lagern über 60 Millionen Objekte verteilt in allen Kantonen. Sie sind für die moderne Forschung jedoch kaum verwendbar, da sie lückenhaft bestimmt und klassifiziert und nur gerade 17 Prozent der Objektdaten digital erfasst sind. Der Erhalt von Expertenwissen und eine virtuelle Infrastruktur zur Vernetzung der Objektsammlungen und Datenbanken sind für die föderal organisierte Schweiz notwendig, um den Wissenschaftsplatz und Innovationsstandort nachhaltig zu stützen. Forschende planen eine koordinierte Strategie zum grösstmöglichen Nutzen für Wissenschaft, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft.
Biological and geoscience collections form an important part of our rich scientific heritage and provide the basis for much of what we know today about our planet and how we humans have influenced it. Natural history collections help us to understand our past and present better, thereby providing a basis for predicting the future. They also serve as biobanks for preserving the Earth’s organismic and genomic diversity, and must not only be maintained, but also supplemented so that scientists can continue to document and explore life on Earth. As new investigative techniques emerge, we can discover more from studying such intact and well-preserved collections.
Image: Akademien SchweizContact
Prof. Dr. Christoph Scheidegger
Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (Eidg. Forschungsanstalt WSL)
Zürcherstrasse 111
8903 Birmensdorf
Switzerland