Table 1 Overview of international initiatives strengthening culture collection functioning and collaboration
From: Strengthening mycology research through coordinated access to microbial culture collection strains
| World Federation for culture collections | Guidelines for the establishment and operation of culture collections | 1968 |
| World Data Centre for Microorganisms | World Directory and Global register of culture collections with unique identifiers | 1972 |
| Common Access to Biological Resources and Information | CABRI Guidelines and access to the consortium collection databases | 1999 |
| Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) | Defined Biological Resource Centre (BRC) | 1999 |
| Recommended Global Biological Resource Centre Network (GBRCN) as a coordinated global effort | 2006 | |
| Best Practice Guidelines for Biological Resource Centres | 2007 | |
| European Commission FP7-Infrastructures-2008-1 | EMbaRCa project converted OECD BRC guidelines to a draft standard | 2009 |
| German Federal Ministry of Education and Research | GBRCN Demonstration Project proof of concept | 2010 |
| European Strategy Forum for Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) | Defragment European research resources | 2012 |
| Microbial Resources Research Infrastructure (MIRRI) | Preparatory phase to coordinate European culture collection operation and standards | 2016 |