NREN Development and Support

One of the major challenges facing European research and education networking is the disparity between developments in different countries and regions. There is a significant Digital Divide, where the networking services available to researchers, teachers and students in some countries and regions are far below the level that is common in other parts of Europe.

Narrowing this gap is of the utmost importance for achieving the European Union’s political goal of equal opportunities for researchers throughout the European Research Area (ERA). GÉANT2 includes a strand of work that is designed to be a partial implementation of the recommendation made by the SERENATE study to continue to monitor this Digital Divide:

• Producing annual issues of the TERENA Compendium of national research and education networks
• Offering support to the development of research and education networking in less-advanced countries.

TERENA began producing a Compendium of data on NRENs in 2000. In addition to the data that it has traditionally included, the annual Compendium now highlight trends where these are noticeable, and provides an analysis of interrelations between data, differences between countries and developments over time.

In addition to supporting the compilation of TERENA’s Compendium, GÉANT2 includes scope for providing support to the development of research and education networking in the less advanced countries in Europe. The geographic range of this activity encompasses the countries represented by partners in GÉANT2, as well as the countries in southern and eastern Europe and the Mediterranean region, which are currently participating in the SEEREN2 and EUMEDCONNECT projects.

The activity is addressing in particular knowledge transfer in technical, managerial and policy areas. Detailed country assessments are an important element in deciding the nature of aid to be provided by the project, and in advising actors at the national and local level about actions that they can undertake themselves to promote the development of research networking in their regions. More information about these country assessments can be found in the Terms of Reference deliverable published in early 2005, linked alongside this page.

Overall guidance in this activity is provided by an Advisory Panel, which comprises the following NREN experts:

• Artur Binczewski (PSNC)
• Sabine Jaume-Rajaonia (RENATER)
• Baiba Kaskina (SigmaNet)
• Agathoclis Stylianou (CYNET).

Normally, two to four Country Needs Assessments will be carried out each year. To date, assessments have been carried out in the following countries:

• Albania (2005)
• Morocco (2005)
• Romania (2006)
• The Republic of Moldova (2006)
• Malta (2006)
• Bosnia and Herzegovina (2007)

More information on the outcomes of the first of these studies is available in the NREN Development and Support Deliverables page.

A number of follow-up events have also taken place since these studies were conducted, including:

•  A workshop on Promoting Research and Education Networking in Albania (Tirana, 1 December 2005)
• Mini CAMP (Campus Architecture Middleware Planning) workshops focusing on the deployment of eduroam:
  Sibiu, Romania, 2 June 2006
  Nicosia, Cyprus, 15 January 2007
  Gökova, Turkey, 4 April 2007
  Rabat, Morocco, 6 June 2007
• Workshops on Identity Management:
  Chisinau, Moldova, 15 May 2007
  Rabat, Morocco, 5 June 2007
• Support for Bulgarian participants in attending CSIRT training workshop
  (Sofia, Bulgaria, 5-6 July 2007)
• EU-MED Event: Policy workshop on e-Infrastructure in Mediterranean countries
  (Brussels, Belgium, 23-24 October 2007)
• Round Table on Research and Education Networking in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Sarajevo, 20 November 2007).
  

It should be stressed that support will not be held back in order to wait for the outcome of an assessment programme. Above all, this area of activity strives to provide aid that is both appropriate and timely.