Matthew Scott and Niels Hersoug: DANTE/GÉANT’s General Managers share their vision about R&E networks and global collaboration |
Written by Tania Altamirano |
Saturday, 14 July 2012 00:00 |
The leaders of the institution that manages the pan-European network (GÉANT), share -in this new chapter of the series of the views of regional research and education network leaders- their perceptions about the role of research and education networks and the importance of global collaboration.
What comes to your mind when you hear that a researcher is talking about collaboration?
Matthew: Collaboration creates general benefits for society at many levels. It brings people with similar skills together to work towards a common goal, creating what we call the research village, that is to say the idea that no matter how geographically far apart people are, they can work closely together. What would you identify as the main importance of research and education networks?
Matthew: Absolutely, it is crucial that we create equality of opportunity for people all around the world to access their peers and partners in the research and education community both locally and globally. How would you describe the role of GÉANT at both a regional and a global level?
Niels: DANTE has nearly 20 years’ experience of establishing regional research and education networks. This experience is something we have shared and continue to do so with other world regions.
Matthew: In addition to providing connectivity, GÉANT also provides services to meet user needs within Europe. This is again something that we can share with other world regions. The ELCIRA project led by RedCLARA, and which DANTE and GÉANT are closely involved in, is an example of how we can share experiences of services and work to create interregional services which benefit global collaborations. How important for GÉANT is collaboration with other regional networks and in what ways do you collaborate at a global level?
Matthew: For the EC-funded regional projects, DANTE has acted as the conduit between the European Commission and the regions. This has helped to create very powerful links between the regions and Europe. But as organisations such as RedCLARA in Latin America and the TEIN* Cooperation Center in the Asia-Pacific region adopt the role of managing the EC-funded projects, DANTE continues to work closely with them to support them in their work. How do you think global collaboration among regional networks will change in the coming years?
Matthew: Providing sufficient bandwidth between regions will continue to be an important part of global collaboration, but the major focus will be on the provision of interregional services which facilitate global collaboration. Could you describe your vision of R&E networks in the future? Beyond the issue of bandwidth, the quality of the services provided on R&E networks will be very important, be they for network monitoring, bandwidth-on-demand connectivity, eduroam, global access to services via federations, collaboration tools, etc.
Niels: It is vital that we keep significantly ahead of the commercial providers and try out things which are not commercially attractive. We have to deliver the unthinkable. |
Last Updated on Tuesday, 24 July 2012 17:20 |