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Rh scientific collaborative networks such as the European Culture Collection Organization (ECCO) or the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). However, it is fair to say that the recourse to certification is also increasing in the culture collections’ community.

3. Social motivations and incentives in the Actor Networks Based on these results, further in depth interviews were conducted to analyse two different categories of motivations among PSMCs, in one public sector driven regime of managing and distributing microbes, and in an emerging business-oriented regime. The resulting conflict is studied through the lens of how to organise the exchange of micro-organisms based on reciprocity or based on market-based exclusive license contracts.

3.1 The traditional role of PSMCs within the research infrastructure

An important role of public collections is to distribute its microbial holdings, to make them available for present use in science or applied research or hold them as option value for future uses. For instance, traditionally microbes have been transferred free of charge to all users, including to teachers for educational purposes. This is a way to minimise transaction costs in exchanges among relatively few participants, i.e. taxonomists and researchers within, for example the same university, or in different organisations in one single country. Relatively homogeneous aims within those networks facilitate the creation of trust. The “glue” that motivates such microbe transactions is based on relationships, with high informal excludability, reputation based sanctions, and scarce use of private property rights.

In the traditional actor network, social planners support the network through financial incentives, principally core funding to enable day-to-day operation, and ear-marked support to, for example, major research projects. Financial support to traditional PSMCs is provided by governments through host organisations or through competitive grants from many different types of donor organisations including multilateral organisations such as the European Commission. Of the 423 collections registered in WFCC, the majority are university supported (42%) and