At the end of 2019, IFB conducted a survey targeting the life sciences and bioinformatics communities. The targeted researchers belonged to our main funding bodies, as well as to the data-producing national infrastructures. In total, more than 400 answers were collected, mostly from whole teams rather than individuals. The main goal of this survey was to orientate IFB actions towards the actual expectations of the user communities. It was intended to measure the evolution of the needs of the life sciences communities. This was achieved through a set of questions addressing several topics, of which: Exponential increase in storage and computing requirements Growing need in bioinformatics skills and competencies Use of specific and rapidly evolving software resources Access to specialized databases Need to control the entire processing chain to ensure the openness and reproducibility of results (Data Management Plan, workflows, software environments) The main information gained is that both communities expect to see bioinformatics questions take on more and more importance. IFB / ELIXIR-FR