Projects: Eastern Partnership Connect (EaPConnect)

Eastern Partnership Connect (EaPConnect)

The Eastern Partnership (EaP) is a regional and multilateral initiative between the EU and its six Eastern partners: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine. The partnership aims to provide support and assistance for reforms in the region in the fields of democracy, human rights, market economy, sustainability and governance.

The Eastern Partnership shares mutual interests for the benefit of its citizens and has a vision to bring the six neighbours closer to the EU.

Following the Riga Summit in May 2015 and the 1st EaP Ministerial meeting on The Digital Economy in June 2015, the Eastern Partnership reaffirmed its commitment towards the Single Digital Market.

As part of its digital agenda the Eastern Partnership recognises the importance of e-Infrastructures in:

• Promoting digital inclusion.
• Stopping brain drain.
• Procuring and federating access to high-quality scientific content.
• Enabling participation of EaP countries in Horizon2020 projects.

E​aPConnect will realise this vision for the research and education community across the region and beyond.

Objec​​​tives

Launched in July​ 2015, the Eastern Partnership Connect (EaPConnect) project aims to: ​

• establish and operate a high-capacity broadband internet network for research and education (R&E) across six EaP partner countries in the EU’s Eastern Neighbourhood: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine;
• integrate the national research and education networks (NRENs) in the region into the pan-European GÉANT network; decrease the digital divide;
• facilitate participation of local scientists, students and academics in global R&E collaborations;
• deploy eduroam and stimulate integration towards GÉANT services.

By interconnecting the R&E communities across the region and with their European counterparts, EaPConnect will create a gateway for talented individuals in the EaP countries to be truly global players.

Funding and organisation​​​

With the Eastern Partnership the EU offers its partners in the Eastern Neighbourhood concrete, far-reaching support for democratic reform, sustainable development and overall stability. It recognises the importance of e-Infrastructures in bridging the digital divide and bringing its partners closer to the EU.

The European Commission’s Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargements Negotiations (DG NEAR) is contributing 95% (€13m) towards the cost of the EaPConnect project; the remaining 5% will be co-funded by the six beneficiary countries.

The project was officially inaugurated at the 1st Eastern Partnership Ministerial Meeting on the Digital Economy and is expected to have a duration of five years.

EaPConnect is managed by networking organisation GÉANT in collaboration with the NRENs in the six partner countries.