Natural Science Collections Facility (NSCF)

What Natural Science Collections Facility (NSCF) does

The Natural Science Collections Facility (NSCF) is a government-funded virtual facility coordinating a national network of South African institutions that hold natural science collections. Established in October 2017 under the Department of Science & Innovation's Research Infrastructure Roadmap and hosted by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) in Pretoria, NSCF connects 16+ participating institutions including major museums (Iziko, Durban Natural Science Museum, KwaZulu-Natal Museum, East London Museum, Ditsong), herbaria, the Agricultural Research Council, and the South African Institute of Aquatic Biodiversity. Its mission is to secure collections physically and virtually, mobilise specimen data for research and decision-making, support taxonomy and identification services, and serve broader society through education and citizen science.

NSCF's product portfolio centres on open-source web-based infrastructure: the Georeferencer (georef.nscf.org.za) for assigning coordinates to specimen localities, the Labeling Tool (labels.nscf.org.za) for standardised specimen labels, and the Virtual Museum initiative for digitising important specimens and historical documents. Supporting these tools is a content library comprising the community-developed Collection Management and Conservation Manual, a Georeferencing Protocol, and an 18-month Collection Management and Curation Course with webinars, discussion forums, and 10-15 assignments leading to certification. The Open-Access Framework launched in April 2026 packages these resources for local, African, and global scientific communities.

NSCF operates as a non-revenue-generating coordination facility under a single funder, the Department of Science & Innovation. All tools, training, and publications are provided free of charge to participating institutions and the broader community. The facility reaches users through its website (nscf.org.za), social media channels, newsletters, Medium publications, monthly webinars, discussion forums, annual Virtual Forums, and the in-person Forum (inaugural 2017 event convened 150+ staff from 16 institutions). Downstream use cases span agriculture (pest identification for Fall Armyworm and Shot Hole Borer), environmental management (EIAs, IUCN Red List assessments, including 2,200+ spider species assessed with SANBI), forensic applications (DNA barcoding for wildlife trafficking enforcement), and citizen science (iSpot, iNaturalist).

Name

Natural Science Collections Facility (NSCF)

Legal name

Natural Science Collections Facility

Website

https://nscf.org.za

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

NSCF is a South African government-funded virtual facility coordinating a national network of 16+ museums, herbaria, and research institutions holding natural science collections. Hosted by SANBI and funded by the Department of Science & Innovation, it provides open-source digitization tools, training courses, and standards documentation free of charge.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Research Infrastructure / Biodiversity Collections Management

NAICS

Environmental Consulting Services (541620), Administration of Conservation Programs (92412), Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions (712)

SIC

Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731), Miscellaneous Publishing (2741)

akta.pro primary industry

Nature & Biodiversity Reporting (TNFD, natural capital) (EUAHAJAM)

Keywords

• Natural science collections
• Biodiversity research infrastructure
• Collection management training
• Specimen digitization services
• Research data coordination

Headquarters

HQ city

Pretoria

HQ country

South Africa

HQ region

Africa

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Government Funding: NSCF is funded by the South African Department of Science & Innovation (DSI) as part of the national Research Infrastructure Roadmap. It operates as a non-revenue-generating coordination facility. Services provided to institutions (collection management training, georeferencing tools, labeling tools, publications) are provided free of charge.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

The Natural Science Collections Facility (NSCF) is a virtual facility and network of South African institutions holding natural science collections, coordinated by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI). It provides open-source digital tools (Georeferencer, Labeling Tool, Virtual Museum), standardized collection management documentation (Collection Management and Conservation Manual), and structured training programs (Collection Management and Curation Course) to participating institutions and the broader scientific community, all free of charge.

Product overview

NSCF is a virtual facility and network of South African institutions holding natural science collections, coordinated by SANBI and funded by the Department of Science & Technology. The NSCF product portfolio centers on its digitization infrastructure and professional development offerings: the core tools include the Georeferencer and Labeling Tool for specimen data management, and the Virtual Museum for digitizing and making specimens accessible online. Supporting these are the Collection Management and Conservation Manual (comprehensive standards documentation) and the associated Collection Management and Curation Course (training program with webinars, tutorials, and assignments). Additional offerings include the Georeferencing Protocol, Iqoqwana Initiative (youth development), annual NSCF Virtual Forum (knowledge sharing), and the Value of Natural Science Collections Showcase series. The recently launched Open-Access Framework provides open-source resources for the broader scientific community.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• NSCF Georeferencer An online tool for georeferencing specimen locality data, enabling accurate geographic coordinates to be assigned to collection records for biodiversity research and analysis. Used by natural science collections institutions in South Africa.
• NSCF Labeling Tool An online tool for generating standardized specimen labels with accurate collection data for natural science collections. Used by collection managers and curators to streamline specimen labeling workflows.
• Virtual Museum A digitization initiative providing detailed images of important specimens such as types, historical field notes, catalogue books, and accession registers, with the aim of making collections accessible online and showing collection store rooms to the public.
• Collection Management and Conservation Manual A comprehensive manual documenting standards and procedures for managing and caring for natural science collections in South Africa, covering ethics, documentation, risk assessment, disaster management, health & safety, data management, collection care, accessioning, and access. Developed collaboratively by the NSCF community.
• Collection Management and Curation Course An 18-month structured training course covering material from the Collection Management and Conservation Manual, including webinars, discussion forums, tutorials, and assignments for professionalizing collection management. Open to staff at all participating institutions, with no formal qualifications required. Participants receive an NSCF certificate upon completion.
• Open-Access Framework Open-source resources, tools, and practices contributing to improving standards, facilitating collaboration, and building capacity for South Africa's natural science collections. Targets local, African, and global scientific communities.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 150 natural science collections staff from 16 institutions engaged through the first NSCF Forum (2017)
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers9 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability7 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 17 October 2017SANBI is the hosting institution for NSCF. It provides the institutional home and administrative infrastructure for the NSCF Hub. NSCF is coordinated from within SANBI in Pretoria, and SANBI's Threatened Species Unit collaborates with NSCF on IUCN Red List assessments (e.g., spider species assessments).
• Participating Institutions (Network of 16+ Institutions)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNSCF is a virtual facility comprised of a network of South African institutions holding natural science collections. Key institutions include: Iziko Museums of South Africa, Durban Natural Science Museum, KwaZulu-Natal Museum, Albany Museum, East London Museum, Port Elizabeth Museum, Ditsong National Museum of Natural History, National Herbarium (SANBI), South African Institute of Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB), Agricultural Research Council (ARC), National Museum Bloemfontein, and university herbaria and collections. These institutions collaborate on new species discoveries, digitisation, training, and the virtual museum initiative.
• International Plant Sentinel Network (IPSN)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNSCF participates in the International Plant Sentinel Network, which conducts surveys for tree pests and diseases in South Africa's Botanical Gardens. Through IPSN, Dr Trudy Paap from the University of Pretoria identified the Polyphagous Shot Hole Borer beetle, demonstrating how international networks support national biosecurity efforts.
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNSCF contributes to GBIF by mobilising South African natural science collection data for inclusion in the global biodiversity database. GBIF analytics and country activity reports track South Africa's contribution to global biodiversity data, with NSCF serving as the coordinating body for this effort.
• University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) and Ezemvelo KZN WildlifeminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerUKZN and Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife signed a landmark Memorandum of Understanding in March 2019 to combine their botanical resources. Ezemvelo will integrate its 33,000-specimen herbarium into UKZN's Bews Herbarium, with UKZN making all combined resources more accessible — an example of NSCF's broader mission to strengthen South African collections through institutional collaboration.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Natural History Museum, London: The NHM London is a major global natural history institution holding tens of millions of specimens, with deep investment in digitization, taxonomy, and public engagement. It is a much larger incumbent operating an overlapping collections and research mandate.
• Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History: The Smithsonian NMNH is one of the world's largest natural history collections institutions, with extensive digitization programs and biodiversity research. It shares NSCF's mandate of securing and mobilizing specimen data for science and society at a far larger scale.

Direct peers

• Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF): GBIF is the international intergovernmental network that mobilizes biodiversity data from natural history collections worldwide. NSCF contributes South African specimen data to GBIF and operates a functionally parallel coordinating role at the national level.
• Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS): OBIS is the global open-access data and information system on marine biodiversity, including records derived from natural history collections. It is a directly comparable international biodiversity data infrastructure serving research and policy.
• Distributed System of Scientific Collections (DiSSCo): DiSSCo is a European Research Infrastructure Consortium working to unify natural science collections data across European institutions. It operates a directly comparable coordinating-and-digitization mandate at a multi-country scale.
• iDigBio (Integrated Digitized Biocollections): iDigBio is the U.S. National Science Foundation-funded national resource for digitized biodiversity specimen data, supporting digitization, georeferencing, and data standardization. It is a closely analogous U.S. counterpart to NSCF's digitization and standardization mandate.
• Atlas of Living Australia (ALA): ALA is Australia's national biodiversity data platform aggregating records from museums, herbaria, and citizen scientists. It mirrors NSCF's role as a national aggregator of biological occurrence data for research, policy, and conservation.
• Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities (CETAF): CETAF is a European consortium of natural history institutions focused on taxonomy, collections curation, and biodiversity research. It parallels NSCF's role in coordinating member institutions around shared standards and training.

Emerging players

• Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI): BGCI is a global network for plant conservation, linking botanic gardens and herbaria around ex situ conservation and data sharing. It intersects with NSCF on herbarium collections and biodiversity data mobilization but focuses on living plant collections.

Others

• Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL): BHL is a global consortium digitizing biodiversity literature linked to natural history collections. It is an adjacent enabling infrastructure that complements NSCF's digitization mission through literature rather than specimen records.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/nscf_sa
• Facebookfacebook.com/NSCFSA
• Instagraminstagram.com/nscf_sa
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/nscfsa

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Natural Science Collections Facility (NSCF)