The MALDIBANK project officially launched with its Kick-Off Meeting held in Braga, Portugal, from May 13 to 15, marking the beginning of a collaborative European effort to enhance microbial identification. BioData.pt participated in the meeting as one of the project’s official partners. MALDIBANK sets out to create a European reference database of MALDI-TOF spectra — a crucial step toward strengthening biological resource centres and promoting harmonised microbial identification across Europe. During the meeting, BioData.pt led the discussions for Work Package 8 (WP8), with a particular focus on Task 8.5: Socio-Economic Impact Assessment. The team contributed to the definition of key performance indicators (KPIs) that will guide the evaluation of the project's broader scientific, societal, and innovation impact. This work lays the foundation for a stronger, FAIRer microbial research ecosystem, and BioData.pt is excited to be part of it.