What are the challenges of access to services in a European context?
IBISBA brings together a distributed network of service providers across Europe, creating both opportunities and coordination challenges for user access
Authors: Nicolas DEPRETRE (INRAE), Jasper KOEHORST (WUR), Brett METCALFE (WUR), George GEORGAKILAS (ARC), Silvana MOSCATELLI (CNR), Peter BLOMBERG (VTT), Andrea STRAZZULLI (UNINA)
Access to research and innovation services remains a central challenge in the European biotechnology landscape. Beyond the availability of state-of-the-art infrastructures, users often face a fragmented environment shaped by differing national frameworks, varying levels of support, diverse technical capabilities, and complex administrative procedures. Understanding these barriers is essential to ensure more seamless, equitable, and efficient access to services across Europe, that can fully unlock the potential of collaborative biotechnology research.
For a distributed research infrastructure such as IBISBA, this challenge is particularly important. IBISBA brings together service providers across several European countries, offering expertise in industrial biotechnology, engineering biology, bioprocess development, analytics, modelling, data management and enabling digital tools. This distributed model is a major strength: it gives users access to a broad and complementary portfolio of scientific and technical capabilities. But it also raises a crucial operational question: how can users easily identify, request, and combine services that are delivered by different providers, in different countries, under different organisational conditions?
The answer lies in building a coordinated access pathway. Within the European project IBISBA-DIALS, Work Package 3 is developing the tools and processes needed to support this transition. The objective is to move from a simple one-stop-shop logic towards an integrated access system: one that helps users define their needs, identifies the right service modules and providers, supports transparent scientific and technical review, prepares a coherent business package, and follows the project along from implementation to audit.
From fragmentation to coordination
In Europe, access to biotechnology services is rarely limited by the lack of expertise. More often, the challenge is that expertise is distributed, described in different ways, and embedded in different local procedures. A user may know the scientific objective but not the most appropriate facility, service provider or combination of technologies needed to achieve it.
This is why IBISBA is working to transform a distributed offer into a coordinated user experience.
The first step is to identify the modules proposed by service providers from IBISBA member countries. These modules describe specific units of scientific or technical work that can be combined to address a user request.
This modular approach helps make the IBISBA offer easier to understand and easier to mobilise. Instead of asking users to navigate a complex network of institutions, the access system helps translate their needs into a structured set of services. In practice, the question becomes less “Who should I contact?” and more “Which service modules are needed, and which providers are best placed to deliver them?”
The Service Catalogue as the new entry point
The IBISBA Project Management System links a service catalogue, a service hub, a project hub, and a collaborative environment to support access and project lifecycle management
Once services are identified and structured, they need to be made visible. This is the role of the IBISBA Service Catalogue. The catalogue is designed as the public-facing entry point through which users can explore available services and initiate an access request.
This represents an important shift. The previous access form, associated with the one-stop-shop approach, is being replaced by a more integrated access route embedded in the Service Catalogue. Users begin by discovering the services available through IBISBA, then submit their request through a more structured and traceable process.
Behind the catalogue, a service database and service administration tools allow service providers and facility managers to update and maintain service information. This is essential to ensure that the catalogue remains reliable, current and aligned with the actual capabilities of the infrastructure.
These tools are part of the wider IBISBA Project Management System developed in the framework of DIALS WP3. Together, the Service Catalogue, Service Hub, Project Hub and collaborative environment provide the digital backbone needed to support access in a distributed European research infrastructure.
The Access Centre: centralising the user need
The IBISBA user access workflow connects users, the Access Centre, STEP experts, service providers and business functions from request submission to quotation and contracting
Even with a well-structured catalogue, many user requests still require some form of guidance. Research and innovation projects in biotechnology are often interdisciplinary, exploratory and technically complex. Users may, for instance, need support to clarify the scope of their request, identify the appropriate access pathway, or determine whether their project requires one provider or several.
To help navigate each project, the IBISBA Access Centre plays this central coordination role. It receives and screens access requests, checks whether the information provided is complete, assesses both eligibility andregulatory compliance, and helps direct each request towards the appropriate scientific, technical, and business processes.
The user access workflow can be understood through five main phases: conception, review and validation, contracting, implementation, and audit. During the conception phase, the request is clarified. During review and validation, the scientific and technical relevance of the request is assessed. During contracting, the technical offer is transformed into a business and legal package. During implementation, the project is delivered and monitored. Finally, the audit phase allows IBISBA to assess outcomes and improve the system.
This end-to-end process is crucial. Access is not just a form to complete. It is a managed pathway that connects users, to access managers, scientific experts, technical providers, and business functions.
Scientific and technical review through STEP
One of the key challenges of access is ensuring that requests are evaluated in a transparent, robust and useful way. A request must be scientifically relevant, technically feasible, and aligned with available capabilities. It may also require revision before it can be translated into a realistic service offer.
This is where the Scientific and Technical Expertise Panel, or STEP, becomes important. The Access Centre coordinates the request, whereas STEP supports scientific and technical evaluation. STEP is intended to provide operational scientific and technical expertise in support of the access process. Depending on the request, the Access Centre may involve STEP experts or committees to provide a scientific opinion, assess the feasibility, or recommend a revision of the project scope. Service providers assess resources, timelines and practical feasibility. Together, they help transform a user idea into an actionable project.
STEP is particularly relevant for complex or multi-step requests, where several service providers may need to contribute. In these cases, scientific and technical review is essential to ensure that the proposed combination of services is coherent, feasible and valuable for the user.
Preparing a coherent business package
Once the scientific and technical dimensions of a request have been clarified, the next challenge is to prepare a business package. This is the moment when the user request becomes a concrete project offer. This business package must identify the partners involved, clarify responsibilities, define expected resources and timelines, and prepare the contractual basis for the work. It also needs to take into account the access mode. Depending on the case, access may be physical, remote, virtual or hybrid.
For single-provider projects, this may be relatively straightforward. For multi-provider projects, however, the process is more complex. Different providers may contribute different services, timelines, resources and cost structures. The Access Centre and business management functions therefore need to consolidate these elements into a package that can support quotation, contracting, and project launch. By preparing this package centrally, IBISBA can reduce complexity for the user while ensuring that providers remain properly involved and represented.
Managing the project after access is granted
However, access does not end once the contract is signed. Implementation is an intrinsic and necessary part of the user experience. Projects need to be coordinated, monitored, and documented. Likewise, communication between users and providers must be maintained and deliverables, data, outcomes, and reporting shared.
This is why the deployment of the Project Management System is central to the access strategy. The PMS provides tools to manage the project lifecycle, from request submission and review to implementation, reporting and closure.
The Project Hub supports the management of project requests and review processes. The collaborative environment, including IBISBA Cloud and the Knowledge Hub, supports communication, file sharing, data management and the organisation of project outputs. Together, these tools help IBISBA move from access request management to full project lifecycle management.
For users, this should create a clearer and more professional experience. For service providers, it should improve coordination and reduce administrative ambiguity. For IBISBA as a whole, it creates the operational evidence needed to monitor performance, improve services and demonstrate impact.
Policies and guidelines: building trust in the access process
A harmonised access system also requires clear rules. Tools and workflows are not sufficient if users and providers do not understand the principles that govern access.
IBISBA is therefore working on the definition of an access policy through a dedicated task force, alongside the development of User Access Guidelines by the Access Task Force. These documents aim to clarify the principles, procedures and responsibilities associated with access to IBISBA services by addressing essential questions: Who is eligible to access IBISBA services? Which access types and modes are available? What are the responsibilities of service providers? How are legal, ethical, safety, data protection and intellectual property issues managed? How is fairness and transparency ensured?
This policy framework is particularly important in a European context, where users and providers operate under different national and institutional environments. Clear guidelines help create a shared understanding of access, reduce uncertainty, and support trust across the network.
Conclusion
The challenge of access in Europe is not simply to make services available. It is to make them visible, understandable, coordinated, and reliable across borders.
For IBISBA, this means building an access system capable of turning a distributed network of expertise into a seamless user pathway. Service modules make the offer easier to structure. The Service Catalogue provides a clear entry point. The Access Centre centralises and guides user needs. STEP supports scientific and technical review. Business management functions prepare coherent project packages. The PMS supports implementation, monitoring and audit. Access policies and practical guidelines provide the rules needed to ensure fairness, transparency and trust.
Together, these elements form the operational basis for a more coordinated European access model in industrial biotechnology. By addressing fragmentation, simplifying user pathways and strengthening coordination between providers, IBISBA is preparing to deliver high-quality services to users across Europe and beyond.
Researchers, companies and organisations interested in accessing IBISBA services or discussing a potential project can contact: network@ibisba.eu