The SYMBIOSIS Plenary Meeting took place online on 18 June 2026 as an open event, bringing together around 50 participants, including project partners, members of the Advisory Board, Technical Stakeholder Group, and external experts interested in biodiversity and transport. The meeting provided an opportunity to review the progress achieved across the project and to discuss upcoming activities.
During the meeting, the EU-Rail Project Officer welcomed participants and emphasized the growing importance of biodiversity in transport infrastructure and the relevance of SYMBIOSIS. As the first Europe’s Rail-funded project dedicated to biodiversity, SYMBIOSIS continues to promote cross-sector collaboration by bringing together expertise from the railway, energy, water and environmental sectors to support more sustainable and climate-resilient infrastructure systems.
Several milestones were achieved within Work Package 3, including the completion of Milestone 5, the submission of Milestone 9, and ongoing work on Milestone 12, which will provide a preliminary state-of-the-art report on railway ecological asset design and management, with a focus on Nature-based Solutions and Blue-Green Infrastructure.
Stakeholder engagement remains a key component of the project. Through the Advisory Board and Technical Stakeholder Group, experts from the railway, energy, biodiversity and innovation sectors contribute strategic insights and practical expertise to support the validation of project approaches and recommendations. The SYMBIOSIS stakeholder community currently includes 25 organisations and experts representing public authorities, private companies, research centres, universities and non-profit organisations. The consortium continues to welcome new organisations and experts interested in contributing to more sustainable and climate-resilient infrastructure.
SYMBIOSIS will continue promoting the integration of biodiversity into infrastructure planning and operations through several dissemination and stakeholder engagement activities. An online workshop under Task 5.4, dedicated to integrating biodiversity considerations into company strategies, procurement processes and supply chains, will take place on 9 July 2026.
SYMBIOSIS will also participate in the IENE 2026 Conference held in Bristol, UK from 21 to 25 September 2026. A stakeholder workshop will be organised during the conference to present best practices and collect feedback on Nature-based Solutions compiled within the project.
Through continued collaboration and stakeholder engagement, SYMBIOSIS contributes to the development of more sustainable, resilient and biodiversity-friendly transport infrastructure across Europe.