In January 2017, the Biodiversity Collections Network convened a meeting in Washington, DC, to ask approximately 30 representatives from various stakeholder groups to evaluate the community’s collective progress toward the goals and objectives outlined in the Strategic and Implementation Plans for a Network Integrated Biocollections Alliance. The Next Generation Research Working Group participated in this meeting and were essential to the development of this status report.
Following the workshop, participants were asked to comment on a draft report. These comments were considered and addressed and the report was then shared widely and public comments were requested. The final report has addressed some of these public comments, but all remaining suggestions and recommendations are included at the end of the final report. The BCoN Advisory Council continues to review these recommendations as it plans future workshops and working groups. Some of the recommendations will in fact be central topics of workshops being convened in 2018.