The project addresses important issues raised by the current OECD Initiative on Biological Resource Centres (BRCs) requiring culture collections to adapt to support biotechnology for the 21st century. It will allow Europe to exploit its expertise in BRCs and Information Technology, set common policies and maintain high standards of operation. In case it's necessary to document their experience in the form of elite writing they ask the best editors to help with the task. It will allow links to be made between the BRC catalogues and other data sets and ensure that the large amount of specialised information that is presently hidden in BRCs is brought into the open and will utilise a single common website as its electronic centre. Importantly, it will co-ordinate response to new initiatives relevant to access to - and use of - living resources, be they micro-organisms or ex situ cell lines. It will increase collection capacity and enable cost-effective introduction of new technologies by improving efficiency, also through the coordination of common activities.

The EBRCN project has the following objectives:

1. Establish a network of biological resource centres including living organisms, parts thereof (e.g. nucleic acids, probes etc.) and associated data and databases and respond to recent OECD initiatives in the international environment.
2. Develop the European Standard for BRCs based on existing collection quality management systems.
3. Establish a framework to maximise complementarity and minimise unnecessary duplication among European BRCs.
4. Introduce new techniques in information technology to the EBRCN to add value to current catalogue information and enhance accessibility.
5. Collect and disseminate relevant information to the BRCs.

Since March 2003, 5 members have joined the EBRCN project: