Jerome Pons, the head of cooperation of the Delegation of the European Union to Thailand
Mr. Jerome Pons, the head of cooperation of the Delegation of the European Union, attended the 5th Asi@Connect Meeting in Daejeon, Rep. of Korea. During the meeting period, he had the number of tables with Asi@Connect partners to share the project progress and each NREN’s update. He stressed the importance of Asi@Connect Project on the line of the European Union’s global strategy at the Asi@Connect Governors’ Meeting. 

"The Research and Education Network, such as Asi@Connect, reinforces digital connectivity between Europe and Asia and bridges the digital divide between developed and developing countries in Asia. The European Union (EU) has a global strategy to connect the two continents in the energy, transport, digital technology as well as people to people (Europe-Asia Connectivity communication- 2018). 
 

Mr. Jerome Pons (The head of cooperation of the EU delegation to Thailand)

The EU has a digital agenda for Europe, a digital single market strategy and a number of funding mechanisms to implement it based on partnerships with different stakeholders. Those efforts in the EU are accompanied by efforts outside the EU, with a Global Strategy (since 2016) recognizing the importance of the linkages, partnership and connectivity which are essential for development, security, and prosperity.

Asi@Connect responds to key EU efforts in promoting regional integration in Asia and increasing the connectivity between two regions. It is about capacity building and people to people contacts – essential elements of a development approach. Reinforcing connectivity is for the mutual interests and benefits of the EU and Asia. This project promotes sustainable development in Asia and reinforces the linkage of R&E network in Europe and in Asia.

As for the project’s sustainability, developing more partnerships with new actors, such as the private sectors, should be one of the strategy to take the project into the future. Asi@Connect fits well in the EU efforts toward achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) worldwide and in particular Goal 17 which is about the partnership. With more partnerships, the project can achieve stronger results and be sustainable in the long run. The Korean Government, the Cooperation Center and the network organisations were thanked for the success of the initiative.
“Asi@Connect responds to key EU efforts in promoting regional integration in Asia and increasing the connectivity between two regions. This project promotes sustainable development in Asia and reinforces the linkage of R&E network in Europe and in Asia.” 
- Messages from Mr. Jerome Pons

Yong Hwan Chung, new president of TEIN*CC

Mr. Yong Hwan Chung appointed as the president of TEIN*CC by the Ministry of Science and ICT of the Republic of Korea on 11 March 2019. Priority to joining TEIN*CC, Mr. Chung held CEO positions for many years in the Korean post office and KAIT (the Korea Association ICT Promotion), the Korean Government affiliated organization. He had been the high-level officials for ICT and telecommunication policy & legislation in the Ministry of Science and ICT for more than 30 years. 

"TEIN has dedicated to the development of ICT infrastructure in this region and is playing an important role to promote international collaboration for scientists and network users in the Asia-Pacific region and the globe. Also Asi@Connect is the most valuable collaboration project that is worthy to build together for the digital and human network between Asia and Europe." 

- Messages from Mr. Yong Hwan Chung

5^th Asi@Connect Meetings, 18-22 February 2019, Daejeon, Rep. of KOREA
The 5^th Asi@Connect Meeting was held in Daejeon, Korea, on 18-22 February. The EU officer, Counsellor Mr. Jerome Pons addressed about strengthening the connectivity between Asia and Europe and the contribution to the SDG goals through the Asi@Connect. In the Project meeting, 10 selected Asi@Connect sub-projects introduced their activities and program progress.

Asi@Connect meetings were held in conjunction with APAN47 hosted by KISTI. The meeting participants enjoyed social programmes during the meeting period. Asi@Connect Call For Proposal (CFP) awarded activities such as CSIRT training, BACKFIRE and tele-medicine were held during the time of the Asi@Connect meeting and APAN47, and Cyber-Performance played collaborative culture performance connecting 5 countries. 

6^th Asi@Connect Meetings, 18-22 February 2019, Daejeon, Rep. of KOREA
The 6^th Asi@Connect Meeting took place in Putrajaya, Malaysia, on 21-25 July 2019. The representative from the delegation of the EU to Malaysia, the Government of Korea and the Government of Malaysia attended and shared the progress of Asi@Connect activities.
 

In the Project Meeting, new sub-granted projects were introduced. During the meeting period, the external Asi@Connect project evaluator met Asi@Connect partners to assess Asi@Connect progress in each partner’s country and to acquire partners’ requests for the Asi@Connect project. This mid-term evaluation report will be released at the end of this year.

5^th Asi@Connect Meetings, 18-22 February 2019, Daejeon, Rep. of KOREA
The 5^th Asi@Connect Meeting was held in Daejeon, Korea, on 18-22 February. The EU officer, Counsellor Mr. Jerome Pons addressed about strengthening the connectivity between Asia and Europe and the contribution to the SDG goals through the Asi@Connect. In the Project meeting, 10 selected Asi@Connect sub-projects introduced their activities and program progress.
 

Asi@Connect meetings were held in conjunction with APAN47 hosted by KISTI. The meeting participants enjoyed social programs during the meeting period. Asi@Connect Call For Proposal (CFP) awarded activities such as CSIRT training, telemedicine were held on this whole week in Daejeon and Cyber-Performance played collaborative culture performance connecting 5 countries at the same time. 

6^th Asi@Connect Meetings, 18-22 February 2019, Daejeon, Rep. of KOREA
The 6^th Asi@Connect Meeting took place in Putrajaya, Malaysia, on 21-25 July 2019. The representative from the Delegation of the EU to Malaysia, the Government of Korea and the Government of Malaysia attended and shared the progress of Asi@Connect activities.
 

In the Project Meeting, new Asi@Connect CFP awarded projects were introduced. During the meeting period, the external Asi@Connect project evaluator had meetings with Asi@Connect partners to assess Asi@Connect progress in each partner’s country and to acquire partners’ requests for the Asi@Connect project. 

Global collaboration: TEIN community benefit 100Gbps link CAE-1 and AER
Why global collaboration is important in the Research and Education Network Community? The recent achievement of 100Gbps link between Asia and Europe gave us the answer to this question. Faster, cheaper and efficient 100Gbps link will benefit to the researchers and scientists to closely tie these two regions.

The Collaboration Asia Europe-1 (CAE-1) 100 Gbps link is routed via the Red Sea and Indian Ocean. This path between the two continents is more direct than the links routed via the North Atlantic Ocean, across North America and across the Pacific Ocean that has carried much of the R&E traffic to date. A more direct and shorter route between Asia and Europe secures lower latency and reduced costs, two important factors in the race to meet customer demands due to increasing R&E traffic between the two continents. 
 

Asiapacific-Europe Ring (AER) was built up based on MOU among the Asia and Europe partners. The MOU is for the collaboration to run 100Gbps networks between Asia and Europe. The MOU partners agreed to contribute their own 100Gbps link to create a resilient system. In the event that one link in the ring fails, traffic between Europe and Asia will be transported over one or more of the other links. 

Asi@Connect National Launch Event series: Pakistan, Vietnam and Bhutan
This summer our partners, Pakistan, Vietnam, and Bhutan, held the Asi@Connect national launch events. Each partner celebrated the local inauguration of the Asi@Connect project and each event combined with technical workshops or training programs to promote NREN activities.
 
PERN Community story
PERN (Pakistan Research and Education Network) is a national research and education network initiated by the Government of Pakistan under the IT action plan in 2002. PERN invited the Head of Delegation of the European Union to Pakistan and whole academia linked with PERN attended this event. 
 

The Ambassador of the Delegation of the European Union to Pakistan, Jean Francois Cautain, said “Asi@Connect project in Pakistan would help bridge the digital divide across Asia-Pacific and will cast a positive impact on efforts to strengthen connectivity for research and higher education in the region”  For the full story  
 
VinaREN Community story:
VinaREN (Vietnam Research and Education Network) is a national research and education network of Vietnam. Asi@connect was launched on 15 August 2019 at Hanoi, Vietnam together with the Eduroam training workshop which went through two days of technical training programs targeting to the engineers and administrators in universities in Vietnam. In this event, the Government officers of Vietnam and Mrs.Axelle Claude Nicaise, First Counsellor, Head of Political, Press & Information of the Delegation of the EU to Vietnam attended and celebrated the official inauguration in Vietnam. 
 

Speaking at the event, Director-general of NASATI, Mr. Tran Dac Hien stated that the project launch in Vietnam marked a new chapter in the R&E collaboration in the Asia-Pacific. Asi@Connect will enable faster digital connectivity among countries and facilitate the implementation of advanced network services while making contributions to realizing the UN’s sustainable development goals through better access to training and research resources as well as reduction of digital gap. For the full story  
 
DrukREN Community story:
The Bhutanese research and education community celebrated the official inauguration of Asi@Connect Project on 20 August 2019 attending with H.E. Mr. Tomasz Kozlowski, Ambassador of the European Union to Bhutan. DrukREN is interconnected with Bhutan Internet Exchange (btIX) and further connected to National Knowledge Network in India which provides the TEIN link. DrukREN is operated and managed by the Department of Information Technology and Telecom (DITT) under Ministry of Information & Communications (MoIC), Royal Government of Bhutan.
 

Minister of Information and Communications Karma Donnen Wangdi said that such a platform would make education more flexible and accessible. He said, with support from Asi@Connect, DrukREN would support countries to develop and deploy new network services, facilitate human capacity building, knowledge exchange and improve public internet access in the least developed countries.
For the full story 

Glance about Asi@Connect National Launch Event

• What is Asi@Connect National Launch Event?

Asi@Connect National Launch Event aims to celebrate each partner's participation in the Asi@Connect Project and to raise awareness among the user community and other stakeholders for the benefits in the context of inter-regional and international research and education collaborations

• What program the National Launch Event has?

The National Launch Event doesn't have a fixed format but generally follows two parts: a ceremonial session inviting government officers, the EU delegations, diplomats, NREN members. The Ministers and the EU delegation deliver congratulatory messages for the official inauguration of the Asi@Connect project. The second parts mainly focus on NREN’s activities and their projects. The users and NREN members acquire about NREN’s information and new technologies and have the opportunity to grasp information about global collaboration activities like Asi@Connect Call for Proposals. Some times NREN prepare local cultural event and participants enjoy ceremony and networking time.  

• Why NRENs celebrate Asi@Connect Launching?

NRENs have a stage to introduce their activities and services and to provide information to the user community who benefit from NREN services and global projects. Also, Stakeholders such as the governments (Ministry/commission of ICT, education and telecommunication), the EU (delegation of the EU overseas), international organizations(world bank and UN, etc.) and funding bodies can share how their investment in R&E network are fostering to benefit the society in the region.  

• How to propose the National Launch Event?

Contact TEIN*CC (eunjinhu@teincc.org) and submit your proposal (incl. program and budget plan). Asi@Connect funds will support your event.

3rd Call for Proposal awarded
Among 55 proposals, 22 activities were selected by the 3rd Call For Proposal evaluation. New applications and co-research activities got awards as Asi@Connect sub-projects. For full list of the awarded programs (click)


 

4th Call for Proposal Process
The 4th Call for Proposal opened its process in June 2019 and it is under the final stage of the evaluation with full application. From the 4th Call, proposers were requested to submit the concept note to reduce the researcher's efforts and times to prepare full applications. The final result will come up in January 2020. 

OF@TEIN+: Open/Federated Playgrounds for Future Networks

• 2nd OF@TEIN+International Collaboration Conference and Workshop (21-24 January 2019, Malaysia)

Cyber performance in APAN47

• Live Cyber Performance (18 February 2019 )

Soundscape Project

• Soundscape Conference (1-2 April 2019, Taiwan)

• Data Analysis workshop of Terrestrial soundscape (10-15 June 2019, Vietnam)

• Ultrasonic soundscape Data Analysis Workshop (2-6 August 2019, Thailand)

• Aquatic Soundscape Analysis Workshop (23-25 August 2019, Philippines)

Performance Data Transfer and Measurements Workshop

• India Workshop (10-12 July 2019)

• Laos Workshop (6-8 March 2019)

Master of Cybersecurity: Distance Master Program in Cybersecurity

• First Semester course (November 2018- May 2019)

• Second Semester course (June 2019 - December 2019)

CSIRT Capacity Building in Asia

• Workshop in APAN 47 (18-19 February 2019, Korea)

• Workshop in APAN 48 (24-25 July 2019, Malaysia)

• Workshop in APNIC 48 (8-9 September 2019, Thailand)

IoTcloudServe@TEIN

• IoTcloudServe@TEIN Collaborative Community Meeting in APAN47 (February 2019, Korea)

• 2nd Collaboration Workshop (11-13 December 2019, Laos)

Distributed and Cloud-based Network Defense System for NRENs

• Cloud-based Web Security Best Practices and System Configuration Overview Workshop (6-7 February 2019, Bangladesh)

• Cloud-based Web Security Best Practices and System Configuration Overview Workshop (13-14 March 2019, Indonesia)

• Cloud-based Web Security Best Practices and System Configuration Overview Workshop (10-11 April 2019, Philippines)

• Series 2 training workshop (20-21 November 2019, Malaysia)

Distributed and Cloud-based Network Defense System for NRENs

• Cloud-based Web Security Best Practices and System Configuration Overview Workshop (6-7 February 2019, Bangladesh)

• Cloud-based Web Security Best Practices and System Configuration Overview Workshop (13-14 March 2019, Indonesia)

• Cloud-based Web Security Best Practices and System Configuration Overview Workshop (10-11 April 2019, Philippines)

• Series 2 training workshop (20-21 November 2019, Malaysia)

Broadening Asi@Connect Knowledge on Federated Identity, Roaming and E-infrastructrure( BACKFIRE)

• Workshop in APAN 47(18-20 February 2019, Korea)

• Workshop in APAN 48(22-24 July 2019, Malaysia)

Facilitating Distance Learning using Digital Conferencing Facility

• Train-the-Trainer Workshop-1 (23 - 25 April 2019, Sri Lanka)

• DigiNar-1 :Competitive Edge of NRENs and Financial Sustainability (June 2019, Online) 

• DLE-1 Course, “CyberSecurity” (9 July - 10 August 2019, Online)

• Workshop on Performance Evaluation of the system (27-28 August 2019, Bangladesh)

• DLE-2 Course, “Ethical Hacking” (9 September - 2 October 2019, Online)

• Workshop on Train the Trainer Program (3-5 December, Nepal)

• Diginar-2 : Progress and Challenges in introducing Eduroam and Federated Identity (18-19 December, Online)

LandSage: Decision Support for Monitoring and Mitigation of Natural Disasters in Southeastern Asia

• Design Workshop in Korea(18-20 February 2019, Korea)

• Training Workshop  (20-24 June 2019, Laos & Viet Nam)

• Training Workshop (8-10 July, Thailand )

Virtualization and Cloud Computing under Asi@Connect

• Workshop for NREN Engineers (25-28 November 2019, Bangladesh)

Advanced Network/System Administration and Security

• Workshop (10-12 December 2019, Bangladesh)

Workshop on Secure Coding

• Workshop in Bhutan (19-13 August 2019, Bhutan)

Uplifting Resources to Deploy IPv6, DNS/DNSSEC, identity access management and monitoring of the network performance and its security

• IPv6 Deployment Workshop(12-16 August 2019, Laos)

On-Campus Network Security and Monitoring Training for IT Technicians of Public Universities in Afghanistan

• 1st Training Workshop(14-18 December 2019, Afghanistan) 

Real-Time Haze Monitoring and Forest Fire Detection Information Centric Networks

• SEA-HAZEMON@TEIN Workshop (16-20 September 2019, Thailand)

Ricestats Database

• launch of Asi@Connect RICESTATS DATABASE (2 December 2019, Philippines)

Software Defined Optical Networks (SDON) Training and Research Laboratory for TEIN NRENs.

• Kick-off meeting at NUST (5 September 2019, Pakistan)

• Meeting "Train the trainer" remote training methodology (27 September 2019, Online) 

Intelligent Medical Services over TEIN

• Workshop of Intelligent Medical Services (22-24 July 2019, Malaysia)

• AI Doctor Summer School (19-23 August 2019, Korea)

• Outbound Summer School (2-3 October 2019, Malaysia) 

• Fall Lecture Series (2-31 October 2019, Online)  

Establishment of an Asia-Pacific Oral Cancer Early Detection NETwork (APOCNET)

• 1st meeting of the Asia-Pacific early detection of oral cancer network (13-15 September 2019, Malaysia)

Real-time Haze Monitoring & Forest Fire Detection 
(SEA HAZEMON@TEIN)
Air pollution is becoming a real threat to our daily life and many Asian countries faced a serious social issue with air quality management. This project will develop IoT platform based on TEIN and researchers from Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, and Laos will collaborate to develop this application. For more information (click)
 

Bridging the Digital Divide in Myanmar
The project aims to enhance the capacity building for ICT human resources in Myanmar and the program will be carried out by the "Train the Trainers" model for long-term sustainability. The program participants will learn 'Cisco program'. For more information (click)  

Intelligent Medical Services over TEIN

The project aims to establish a collaborative platform, over TEIN, for technology and knowledge sharing in the domains of ICT and Healthcare, called “Intelligent Medical Services over TEIN”. Through this platform, domain experts from South Korea, in collaboration with representatives from Malaysia, Thailand, Pakistan, and Vietnam will provide, training, education, tele-medicare, and customizable intelligent medical services, to enhance the technology adoption and healthcare service delivery in the least Developed Countries. For project website (click)
 

Capacity Building on NOC operations for NRENs

The NOC professionals are key players for stable network operation. To develop NOC capacity building, NKN proposed this program.  The NOC professionals from Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia will visit the NOCs of developed NRENs: SINET and JGN-Japan, HARNET-HongKong, NKN-India, CERNET-China, and GEANT-EU, for training on NOC operations. For more information (click)
 

This video introduces Asi@Connect activities and partners' information (v. 2019)

Asi@Connect leaflet provides an overview of the project and
the Call For Proposal (CFP) process (v. 2019)

Asi@Connect 4th Call for Proposals result (January 2020)
The shortlisted concept note proposers submitted their full applications and it is under the evaluation process. The final result will come out in January 2020. Please keep on Asi@Connect website.  

Asi@Connect National Launch Event in Myanmar
(11 January 2020, Yangon, Myanmar)
UCSY(mmREN), NREN of Myanmar, will invite mmREN members including the stakeholders (Minister of Education and the EU delegation to Myanmar). This official inauguration ceremony will promote mmREN activities among the users and students in Myanmar. 

7th Asi@Connect Meetings & APAN49
(2-6 March 2020, Kathmandu, Nepal)
The 7th Asi@Connect Governors & Project Meeting will be held in conjunction with APAN49 in Kathmandu, Nepal on 2-6 March 2010. For more information and meeting agenda will be announced soon. Also, Asi@Connect supporting programs will take place during this period.

8th Asi@Connect Meetings & APAN50
(August-September 2020, Hong Kong)
The 8th Asi@Connect Governors & Project Meeting will be held in conjunction with APAN50 in Hong Kong. The meeting date and venue will be announced later. 

TNC20, 8-12 June/ Brighton, U.K

APAN50 in Hong Kong (August-September 2020)

ASEM Summit will be held in 2020.

TEIN*Cooperation Center
A-#708, DMC High-Tech Industry Center
330 Sungam-ro, Mapo-gu, 03920

Seoul, South Korea

Website: www.tein.asia

Email: teincc@teincc.org