TDWG

What TDWG does

TDWG (Biodiversity Information Standards, formerly the Taxonomic Databases Working Group) is a non-profit, volunteer-driven scientific and educational association that develops, ratifies, and maintains data standards for recording and exchanging biodiversity information. Operating since the 1980s across a globally distributed, virtual organization with no fixed headquarters, TDWG's core technical output is a portfolio of XML- and RDF-based standards — most prominently Darwin Core (the de facto standard for sharing species occurrence and related data), ABCD (Access to Biological Collection Data), Audiovisual Core, Latimer Core, SDD (Structured Descriptive Data), TCS (Taxon Concept Schema), TAPIR (a distributed query protocol), and supporting vocabularies and documentation standards — that enable interoperability among biodiversity databases operated by museums, herbaria, government agencies, and researchers.

The standards are developed through Interest Groups, Task Groups, and Maintenance Groups under an elected Executive Committee, with formal public review and ratification processes; source code and documentation are version-controlled on GitHub and made freely available under Creative Commons licensing. Commercial-style revenue is minimal and incidental to the standards mission: TDWG collects institutional and individual membership dues, and through a partnership with Pensoft Publishers (since 2019) operates the open-access BISS journal (Biodiversity Information Science and Standards), charging €480 per article for members and €560 for non-members. The organization also disburses a Community Support Fund (up to USD $5,000 per proposal in 2025) to working groups. Adoption is concentrated among institutional stakeholders such as the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), natural history museums, herbaria, and the Biodiversity Heritage Library, with annual rotating conferences serving as the primary community engagement vehicle.

Name

TDWG

Legal name

Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG)

Website

https://tdwg.org

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

TDWG (Biodiversity Information Standards) is a non-profit scientific association that develops and maintains open biodiversity data standards — including Darwin Core, ABCD, and Audiovisual Core — for museums, herbaria, GBIF, and the global biodiversity research community.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Biodiversity Data Standards

NAICS

Environment, Conservation and Wildlife Organizations (813312)

akta.pro primary industry

Biodiversity & Habitat Conservation (BPAGAGAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Wildlife Health & Conservation Disease Management (HLAMAJAM)

Keywords

• Biodiversity data standards
• Taxonomic data exchange
• Biodiversity informatics
• Standards development organization
• Scientific publishing

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership Dues: TDWG operates with institutional and individual members who pay dues. Membership provides benefits including discounted article processing charges for the BISS journal.
2. Journal Article Processing Charges (APCs): BISS journal charges €480 for TDWG members and €560 for non-members for full articles. Conference abstracts are typically included in registration fees or sponsored.
3. Community Support Fund Disbursements: TDWG disburses funds to Interest/Task/Maintenance Groups to support working meetings. Maximum award is USD $5,000 per proposal (2025).

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

TDWG (Biodiversity Information Standards) develops, ratifies, and maintains open consensus-based data standards and exchange protocols — including Darwin Core, ABCD, Audiovisual Core, Latimer Core, SDD, TCS, and TAPIR — that enable interoperability of biodiversity information across institutions, databases, and national boundaries. The organization also publishes the open-access BISS journal and hosts annual international conferences to advance biodiversity informatics.

Product overview

TDWG (Biodiversity Information Standards, formerly the Taxonomic Databases Working Group) is a non-profit organization that develops and maintains a portfolio of data standards, protocols, and specifications for biodiversity information exchange. The core offerings include the Darwin Core Standard (the primary standard for species occurrence data), ABCD (Access to Biological Collection Data for specimen collections), Audiovisual Core (for multimedia resources), Latimer Core (for collection descriptions), and supporting standards including TCS, TAPIR, SDS, VMS, and GUID Applicability Statements. TDWG also maintains the SDD (Structured Descriptive Data) standard for taxonomic descriptions. Several standards are externally maintained by partner organizations (DELTA, TL-2, Index Herbariorum, BPH, Authors of Plant Names). TDWG publishes the BISS Journal (Biodiversity Information Science and Standards) in partnership with Pensoft Publishers for standards-related scholarly communication.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Darwin Core Standard

Quantifiable outcome

• Standards ratified and adopted by international biodiversity community
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature8 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.

• Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2026GBIF supported workshops and webinars for Darwin Core Conceptual Model development. GBIF will develop a GBIF implementation of the Data Package Guide. Key stakeholder in standards adoption.
• International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 8 July 2025TDWG and ICZN signed a Memorandum of Understanding in July 2025 to formalize collaboration on standards for zoological nomenclature.
• Biodiversity Community Integrated Knowledge Library (BiCIKL)majorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021BiCIKL project builds a freeway between pieces of biodiversity knowledge. TDWG members participated in hackathons and project activities to test interoperability between infrastructures.
• Pensoft PublisherscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019Partnership to establish the Biodiversity Information Science and Standards (BISS) journal. Pensoft provides the ARPHA publishing platform for streamlined authoring, peer review, and indexing.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Research Data Alliance (RDA): RDA is a community-driven international organization developing research data sharing standards. Closely analogous operating model (volunteer working groups, consensus standards, no commercial product) and serves overlapping scientific data communities.
• Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS): OBIS is the marine component of the global biodiversity data network and uses Darwin Core as a core data standard alongside extensions. Shares TDWG's volunteer-and-standards-driven model and serves overlapping researcher communities.
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS): ITIS is a US-government partnership that produces a taxonomic database used as a backbone identifier across biodiversity datasets. Operates in the same biodiversity informatics standards ecosystem with overlapping taxonomic concepts and contributor community.
• Catalog of Life: Catalog of Life is a global taxonomic index that compiles species checklists from authoritative sources, closely tied to TDWG's TCS and taxonomic data standards. Directly comparable as an international biodiversity data consortium serving overlapping scientific users.
• Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL): BHL is a consortium digitizing biodiversity literature and is a listed TDWG customer/partner. Operates in the same biodiversity informatics ecosystem with overlapping constituency of researchers and standards-aware workflows.
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF): GBIF is the primary international aggregator of biodiversity occurrence data and a core stakeholder that has built its entire data infrastructure on TDWG's Darwin Core standard. Direct overlap in mission, constituency (natural history institutions, herbaria, museums), and standards adoption.
• iDigBio (Integrated Digitized Biocollections): iDigBio is the US NSF-funded national platform for digitized biological specimen records, built around ABCD and Darwin Core. Directly comparable as a biodiversity informatics infrastructure organization serving natural history collections.

Broad incumbents

• World Wide Web Consortium (W3C): W3C is the canonical example of a globally adopted, community-developed open standards body. Structurally comparable (volunteer groups, public review, free standards adoption), and TDWG's RDF-based TCS V2 references W3C-style linked data approaches.
• Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC): OGC is the dominant international standards body for geospatial interoperability. Directly comparable as a community-led standards organization, and TDWG's TAPIR/geo-referencing standards overlap with OGC's spatial data work that biodiversity informatics relies on.

Emerging players

• Encyclopedia of Life (EOL): EOL is a curated biodiversity knowledge platform aggregating species pages from authoritative datasets using Darwin Core-compatible taxonomies. Highly comparable technology stack and user base, but operates as a content/portal layer rather than a standards body.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• GitHubgithub.com/tdwg
• YouTubeyoutube.com/playlist?list=PLD9-DRLWVl0nzQPbs3aEXu4bm9C8KR16f
• Xx.com/tdwg
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/tdwg

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about TDWG