We are excited to announce the beginning of the collaboration with SOB4ES project, marking a significant milestone in our shared mission to provide innovative knowledge on soil biodiversity and ecosystem services across contrasting European land use types and intensity levels, and develop cutting-edge tools for sustainable land management practices across Europe.

Establishing synergetic collaborations and increasing communications with other on-going EU Horizon Mission Soil projects with similar goals can improve data comparability across projects and increase the scientific impacts of the outcomes.

The official collaboration began in June during a clustering session at SOB4ES’s General Assembly meeting, where representatives from both projects and consortium partners engaged in productive discussions.

Recognizing the importance of aligning our efforts, we identified common goals and comparable expected outcomes, emphasizing the need for ongoing awareness of each other’s work, progress, and innovative approaches. Based on the specifics of work packages, we created working groups, each led by coordinators from both projects who are directly involved in related topics. Both leaders will define the strategy to follow and coordinate activities, ensuring that our combined efforts are cohesive and impactful:

• Stakeholders’ engagement: Helena Suárez (BIOservicES);
• Soil biodiversity analyses: Andrés Rodríguez Seijo (BIOservicES) and Wim v.d.Putten and Giles Ross (SOB4ES);
• Methods to link soil biodiversity with ecosystem services: Marianna Cerasuolo (BIOservicES) and Christian Mulder (SOB4ES);
• Economic valuation of ecosystem services: Alistair McVittie (BIOservicES) and Simon Jeffrey (SOB4ES);
• Policy analysis: Chiara De Notaris (BIOservicES) and Claire Dupont (SOB4ES); 
• Communication: Iuliana Floricica (BIOservicES) and Marco Michele Acquafredda and Anne Kopka (SOB4ES). 

These working groups will convene periodically to share progress, showcase results, and explore collaborative opportunities such as utilizing case studies for modeling, comparing methodologies, co-authoring publications, sharing communication channels, and developing joint policy briefs. This structure ensures continuous engagement and the sharing of best practices, ultimately enhancing the quality and reach of our work.

Looking ahead, this collaboration represents a promising foundation for deeper integration across various facets of our projects. We anticipate that ongoing exchanges will lead to innovative approaches, richer datasets, and more comprehensive policy recommendations, amplifying the impact of our collective efforts.

As we move forward, we remain committed to fostering a spirit of cooperation, innovation, and mutual growth, ensuring that our combined efforts will lead to meaningful and lasting impacts for ecosystems and communities across Europe.

By using other available EU datasets and initiatives, BIOservicES could contribute novel scientific knowledge to the EU. Similarly, evaluating economic value of soil ecosystem services and generating harmonized protocols and indicators with other co-existing EU Horizon projects create a win-win situation for the both projects involved.