New network aims to spread ‘real world’ benefits through e-connections for research: Arab Scientific Research and Education Network (ASREN)

An Arab Scientific Research and Education Network (ASREN) has been launched at an EU-MED Event on e-Infrastructures held in Brussels, the third of a series of high-level policy meetings, aimed to help secure sustainable e-Infrastructures across the Arab world.

An announcement from the EUMEDCONNECT 2 project said the move marked a major step towards sustaining information and communication technology infrastructures for research and education for eScience across Arab nations. According to the project, E-infrastructures are rapidly changing the landscape of science, with remote access to computing services, instrumentation and resources creating new opportunities for researchers.  Building on EUMEDCONNECT2, the high-capacity internet network for research and education in the Mediterranean, which is co-funded by the European Commission, ASREN sets out to widen its geographical footprint by connecting other Arab national research and education networks (NRENs) in addition to the current seven EUMEDCONNECT2 member countries: Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Palestine, Syria and Tunisia. The press release described the move as a strategic step expected to lead to long-term sustainability of e-Infrastructures in the Mediterranean and the Gulf, potentially serving a population of over 250 million people. It added that the use of e-Infrastructures, such as the EUMEDGRID infrastructure co-funded by the EC in the framework of FP6, was enabling a new wave of collaborative research through remote access to computing services, instrumentation and resources bringing ‘real-world' benefits that impact on daily lives, such as:

• Collaboration between French and Tunisian neurosurgeons in the diagnosis and surgical treatment of epilepsy;
• Participation of Mediterranean high-physicists in the Large Hadron Collider (LCH) experiments to discover the origins of the Universe;
• Assessment of earthquake hazards across the region;
• Agricultural research against the backdrop of desertification and limited water resources;
• Making education more flexible and accessible through e-learning initiatives.

EUMEDCONNECT was launched in 2004 under the European Commission's EUMEDIS Programme, which aimed to develop an inclusive Information Society in the region, creating the first regional data-communications network for the Mediterranean. Building on the achievements of EUMEDIS, a new ‘Regional Programme to support the development of the Information Society in the Mediterranean Region' (EUMEDRegNet) aims to support and further improve cooperation between Europe and the Mediterranean Partner Countries on Information Society issues. 

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• EUMEDCONNECT2 (www.eumedconnect2.net), providing a high-capacity Internet network for over 2 million researchers, academics and  students in 7 countries across northern Africa and the Middle East. With its direct link to GÉANT it is a gateway for the Mediterranean to participate in world-class research and education initiatives.
• EUMEDGRID-Support (www.eumedgrid.org), promoting the deployment of e-Infrastructures, and supporting existing and new applications, policy development and training.
• GÉANT (www.geant.net): a world-leading pan-European research network, bringing together at gigabit speeds the networks of the national entities, NRENs, which are collectively represented by TERENA (Trans-European Research & Education Networking Association - www.terena.org).

 

 

Contact information	Helga Spitaler ; Federica Tanlongo (email: helga.spitaler@dante.net ; federica.tanlongo@garr.it)
News type	Inbrief
File link	http://www.eumedconnect2.net/server/show/ConWebDoc.3246
Source of information	ENPI Info Centre
Keyword(s)	Agricultural research, limited water resources, desertification
Subject(s)	AGRICULTURE , HEALTH - HYGIENE - PATHOGENIC MICROORGANISM , INFORMATION - COMPUTER SCIENCES , INFRASTRUCTURES , METHTODOLOGY - STATISTICS - DECISION AID , POLICY-WATER POLICY AND WATER MANAGEMENT , RISKS AND CLIMATOLOGY , TOOL TERMS , WATER DEMAND
Relation	http://www.eumedconnect2.net/
Geographical coverage	Arab World, Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia
News date	02/04/2010
Working language(s)	ENGLISH , FRENCH

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