The main task of most EMBnet nodes is to provide their national scientific community with access to
bioinformatics databanks, specialised
software and sufficient computing resources and expertise. EMBnet is also working in the fields of bioinformatics training and
software development. Examples of software created by EMBnet members are:
EMBOSS, wEMBOSS,
UTOPIA. EMBnet represents a wide user group and works closely together with the database producers such as EMBL's
European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI), the
Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (
Swiss-Prot), the
Munich Information Center for Protein Sequences (MIPS), in order to provide a uniform coverage of services throughout
Europe. EMBnet is registered in the
Netherlands as a public foundation (
Stichting). Since its creation in 1988, EMBnet has evolved from an informal network of individuals in charge of maintaining
biological databases into the only worldwide organization bringing bioinformatics professionals to work together to serve the expanding fields of
genetics and
molecular biology. Although composed predominantly of academic nodes, EMBnet gains an important added dimension from its industrial members. The success of EMBnet is attracting increasing numbers of organizations outside
Europe to join. EMBnet has a tried-and-tested infrastructure to organise training courses, give technical help and help its members effectively interact and respond to the rapidly changing needs of biological research in a way no single institute is able to do. In 2005 the organization created additional types of node to allow more than one member per country. The new category denomination is "associated node". == Coordination and organization ==