Check out the voice of the President of the Directing Board of the Guatemalan Advanced Network for Research and Education, and his vision about RedCLARA and collaboration. Read this and other interviews in the book “RedCLARA: Name, voice and instrument of collaboration in Latin America”.

What comes to your mind when you hear a researcher talking about collaboration?
Collaboration is one of the main pillars of e-Science. Today, research is rarely done by one single individual. It is conducted by groups of colleagues who most of the times are scattered across the globe. Collaboration involves the sharing of knowledge, experiences, data and even instruments.

What would you say is the most important aspect of research and education networks?
They are the means through which collaborative initiatives can be carried out. In general, a lot is said about the use of networks in Science. However, for countries like many in our region, they can have a very important role in education: creating joint postgraduate programmes, providing remote places with access to libraries and other resources that are not available locally by bringing experts from all over the world through videoconferences, etc.

How would you describe the role of RedCLARA both at a regional and global level?
RedCLARA provides the region with the infrastructure and the capacity to bring people together, which is necessary to be able to sustain collaboration between members in the region and with colleagues worldwide.

What has been the key important aspect of the ALICE2 project for your network?
ALICE2 has had two impacts on RAGIE. The first is the promotion of the development/support for different communities of researchers and academics. Two communities were created, one on Flu in Central America and Panama and one on Biodiversity. Also, we are participating in the LAGO community. The creation of collaboration and support tools for communities has been fundamental.

On the other hand, there have been advances for RAGIE in terms of infrastructure. We have acquired an international bandwidth, many times larger than the one we had. And it has also given us the possibility to expand ourselves towards the country’s interior by taking advantage from the Guatemala City-Tapachula link, which is part of RedCLARA’s backbone.

How important is for RAGIE the collaboration with other national and regional networks and how do you collaborate globally?
RAGIE has been mainly the receiver of the benefits of the collaboration with other NRENs and regional networks. Being able to receive conferences by experts from the entire region and other parts of the world has been very important to promote RAGIE within our institutions. In particular, we have had a pretty close relation with our sister network CUDI, with their Virtual Days and other activities.

In 2013, if all goes well, RAGIE will have the opportunity to take a more active role through two initiatives:

1. The Mesoamerica project, in which the idea is to incorporate the information systems of the different National Centres for Disaster Prevention and Reduction in Mexico, Central America and some countries in South America. This project also has awoken the interest of other initiatives in other parts of the world.
2. In July 2013, the Pan American Summer Institute (PASI) will be held in Guatemala. This is a two-week course aimed at PhD candidates and recently graduated Doctors in different disciplines, and which will deal with the topic of “Methods of Computing Discovery for the Solution of Multidimensional Problems”. Participants will come from the entire western hemisphere and will see the latest techniques in the use of High Performance Computing and Advanced Networks.

If RedCLARA did not exist, what would the science, research and innovation scenario in your country be like?
Although some use of RedCLARA has been made, in general in our country we haven’t taken advantage of the benefits offered by it. The main problem is that most universities focus on teaching and do not conduct research. Also, we haven’t found the necessary support from the government and private sectors. The problems that affect the country are too overwhelming for the country: high poverty rates, illiteracy, unsanitary conditions, etc. The sad thing is that these very same problems could be the main beneficiaries of using RedCLARA.

However, I cannot finish this answer in a negative tone. Through RedCLARA some scientists have been able to conduct highly important research without leaving the country. Also, having this tool available is beginning to influence the way of thinking of local scientists who have obtained their postgraduates abroad, so that they return to the country instead of remaining abroad. These changes are almost unnoticeable but they move in the right direction towards a national strengthening of S+T+I.

Could you describe your view of research and education networks in the future?
I am fully convinced that the use of these networks is essential for the development of S+T+I at a global level. For our region it will be useful to see how this is done in countries with greater development and thus avoid many difficulties that they have already gone through. If we do it well, this should facilitate and speed up the development of S+T+I in our countries, strengthen collaboration at a regional level and, as a consequence, reduce the big scientific divide between LA and the rest of the world.

My vision for the advanced networks of the future is that their cost becomes totally affordable for any scientist/educator and that their use is pervasive and as transparent for the user as the use of a pen is at present... a technology which, in its time, represented a revolution.

According to your point of view, what should be the role of RedCLARA over the next five years?
I think that in five years’ time, the technologies and tools provided by RedCLARA will still not be easily available in our region. Therefore, one of the key functions is to continue providing the necessary infrastructure. However, I also think that this will change rapidly and that RedCLARA will have two clear roles to play: firstly, to be at the frontier of S+T+I, serving as an experimental table for new ideas, projects, methodologies, etc. Secondly, and this is a role that will become a priority, to continue promoting the development of the “human” network of researchers and academics, putting forward multidisciplinary and multinational projects to solve the problems of our region.