Brussels, 23/09/2010 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has invested €5 million to increase the internet capacity available for researchers in central Asia and subsequently transform the ancient Silk Road into a high-speed internet highway for the 21st century, dedicated to research and education. This will involve assistance to the Central Asia Research and Education Network (CAREN), which will enable university researchers and students in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan to have access to high-capacity internet connections, offering them unrivalled opportunities to play a major role on the international research scene. Neelie Kroes, the commissioner responsible for the digital agenda declared that “CAREN reflects the Commission's strategy to address an important gap in Europe's global infrastructure for research by providing high-capacity, yet cost-effective data communications links with Central Asia”. Andris Pielbags, the commissioner in charge of development added that “supporting high education and internet connection is an investment to shape better future of Central Asia's innovation centres”.
The CAREN network gives around half a million researchers in the region access to the large databases and massive processing power needed for cutting-edge research that will directly benefit the region. For example, in this earthquake-prone zone, high-speed CAREN links will allow scientists to access and exchange seismic data from monitoring stations. Various other applications are planned, such as tele-medicine initiatives, environmental monitoring and distance learning. In addition to the provision of high-speed connections between scientists across the region, thanks to the interconnection with its pan-European counterpart GÉANT, CAREN also links them to the global research and education community. Researchers can browse through digital libraries, access geographically distributed databases, share remote scientific instruments and exchange swiftly and reliably large amounts of data across the world. CAREN receives a total budge of €6.25 million. The part of the budget not funded by the European Commission is provided by the beneficiary countries on a cost-sharing basis. (I.L./transl.fl)