Central Asia vital part of Eurasian knowledge belt

Representatives of the Central Asian and Asian R&E and NREN communities gathered on 13-14 December in Tashkent, Uzbekistan for the 2^nd TEIN-CAREN Workshop. Hosted by Tashkent University of Information Technologies (TUIT), the workshop offered an ideal platform to explore new collaboration opportunities and to consolidate the natural bond given the geographical proximity of the two regions.

Prof. Askar Kutanov, CEO of the CAREN Cooperation Center (CAREN CC) and Ms Hye Joo Yoon, President of the Korea-based TEIN Cooperation Center (TEIN*CC) reinforced their commitment to supporting trans-regional research and education collaboration through the EU-funded CAREN and Asi@Connect projects. They further recognised the role of Central Asia as vital part of the ‘knowledge belt’ across Eurasia.

Emphasising the strong bond between Korea and Uzbekistan, Prof. Botir Usmanov from TUIT highlighted the collaboration potential of the local R&E communities and welcomed the efforts underway for Uzbekistan to join the CAREN project which aims to create a regional R&E network across Central Asia and to interconnect it with the pan-European GÉANT backbone.

A strong will to collaborate was also the common denominator in presentations by user representatives from Korea and Central Asia, with focus on telemedicine, geosciences, e-learning and e-government. The message was sound and clear: scientists, educators and the medical community want to collaborate, and good connectivity is essential!

Click here to find out more about CAREN.

Click here to find out more about Asi@Connect.