RENAM’s 25th Anniversary: a milestone in digital connectivity and collaboration

The international conference ‘RENAM E-Infrastructure – Supporting Excellence in National Research and Education’ celebrating RENAM’s 25th anniversary was held on 8 October 2024 at Moldova State University in Chișinău. The Regina Maria hall, illuminated by natural sunlight streaming through its large windows, created a welcoming atmosphere for about 100 participants from 31 organisations and 14 countries. Attendees included representatives from RENAM’s connected institutions, Eastern Partnership and EU NRENs, ‘EU4Digital: Connecting Research and Education Communities (EaPConnect)’ project, representatives of GÉANT, as well as Moldovan government and EU officials.

Igor Chiosa, from the Ministry of Education and Research of the Republic of Moldova, opened the event: “RENAM is a trusted partner that has been instrumental in advancing research and education (R&E) in Moldova. We need reliable partners to develop the sector we oversee. Only by working together we can achieve our objectives for the growth of our country and European integration.”

Igor Sharov, Rector of Moldova State University, took the stage: “We are celebrating a month of significant events at Moldova State University, the largest university in Moldova. Despite facing challenges, our focus on digitalisation remains strong. The history of RENAM is a testament to our country’s resilience and ability to adapt to challenges while bringing people together. We are proud to host this event and celebrate the amazing collaboration and teamwork that RENAM represents. As we navigate the reorganisation of higher education, RENAM remains a key partner in this journey, and we look forward to embarking on new projects together and discussing future strategies. We cannot imagine the future of Moldova without our valued partners.”

Ion Tiginyanu, President of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova, talked about RENAM’s historical milestones, the development of RENAM national optical backbone and connectivity to GÉANT: “RENAM external connections capacity has increased by 20 times from 10 Gbps to 2×100 Gbps. RENAM’s creation, development and activities contribute to the integration of the Republic of Moldova into the European Research Area.”

Erik Huizer, CEO of GÉANT, underlined the principles that unite the R&E community and the benefits of being part of this human and digital network: “RENAM is essential for Moldova, as it enables Moldovan students and researchers to connect globally by providing access to Europe’s largest research and education network, built on principles of trust, commitment to innovation, and support for education and science across borders.”

Thibault Charlet, Programme Manager for Digital Transformation, DG NEAR (Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations), European Commission, emphasising the importance of digital connectivity, highlighted that in the Eastern Partnership region the 265 institutions connected are now benefiting 750,000 users. Reflecting on the significant achievements of EaPConnect project over the past decade, he added how GÉANT services, such as eduroam and eduGAIN have been pivotal in driving digital innovation in the region. Thibault Charlet underlined the critical role of EaPConnect in the EU’s strategy, noting that digital transformation is essential for regional growth: “The EU’s objective is to ensure that everyone in the region can participate in the digital economy and society. This includes providing high-speed, affordable connectivity. Additionally, in order to reduce the digital divides, our efforts focus on the alignment with EU standards in the fields of telecommunications (e.g. the reduction of roaming charges), digital innovation and cybersecurity, as we see them as crucial steps towards the achievement of this goal.”

Irina Matthews, EaPConnect Project Manager from GÉANT, commented: “Over the past 25 years, RENAM has become a crucial enabler and supporter of research and education in Moldova, fostering partnerships on the national and international scale. The EaPConnect project directly contributed to the growth of regional (Romania-Moldova-Ukraine-Poland) technologically advanced ‘spectrum’ connectivity with the unprecedented increase in the network capacity. This ensures that RENAM will continue to play a pivotal role in the growth and development of the R&E sector in Moldova now and in the future.” The heartfelt congratulatory messages for RENAM from the EaPConnect project partners: GRENA (Georgia), AzScienceNet (Azerbaijan) and ASNET-AM (Armenia) are a testament to the strong cohesion that this ten-year-long project has fostered on professional, technical, and human levels.

Sebastiano Buscaglione, Senior Network Architect at GÉANT, who participated remotely, presented the GÉANT Network refresh in the GN4-3N project and work taking place on bringing network in Moldova and Ukraine to technology solution and design principles in line with the rest of the GÉANT network backbone. Also, he stressed the benefits beyond R&E, as GÉANT is driving the market to create new connectivity solutions for Moldova, increasing the market competitiveness and resiliency.

Claudio Allocchio of GARR, the Italian NREN, and Chair of the GÉANT Community Committee, discussed the sustainability of NRENs regardless of their legal form, national approach, or funding models. He emphasised that NRENs can achieve sustainability by actively engaging with their communities. By treating every organisation, including governments, as partners and prioritising work based on users’ needs, NRENs can effectively serve their communities and establish themselves as ‘solutions providers’.

Yevhenii Preobrazhenskyi, Director of URAN, the Ukrainian NREN, who participated remotely, explained how, despite ongoing attacks on the telecommunication and power infrastructure, URAN’s mission to maintain connectivity never stops. As the only motorised member of the URAN team, Yevhenii has been single-handedly running the network by delivering fuel to power generators during outages: “The challenges are countless and overwhelming, but resilience through teamwork and international support can ensure a strong future for Ukrainian R&E.”

Octavian Rusu, Scientific Director of ARNIEC/RoEduNet Agency (Romania), presented major milestones of the evolution of the Romanian NREN, the development of the national optical network, an overview of users and traffic, the most popular services provided for the R&E community and implementation of the RoNaQCI project (Romanian National Quantum Communication Infrastructure). He also highlighted the NREN’s strong and long-standing relationship with RENAM.

Raimundas Tuminauskas, Head of Network and Service Infrastructure Department at PSNC, the Polish NREN, spoke about the PIONIER-LAB project (infrastructure for research established country-wide) and PIONIER-Q project (Polish Quantum Communication Infrastructure). He emphasised the importance of community and the crucial role played by NRENs in the delivery of quality solutions for R&E. Also, he underlined the need for national and international collaboration to address societal challenges and future needs sharing the belief that science transcends borders.

Tangui Coulouarn, Head of Development and International Engagement at DeiC, the Danish NREN, presented eduVPN service – free open source software, designed and maintained for the R&E community, which provides secure internet connection to the public internet or institution access connection to a private network. Based on the idea of making use of a VPN solution very accessible and well-integrated with the systems used in the R&E sector (particularly, the identity management systems), eduVPN has detailed profiles and scales well.

Olaf Verschoor, Procurement Manager at GÉANT, spoke about the OCRE (Open Clouds for Research Environments) framework, starting with NRENs collaboration to tender commercial Cloud services, OCRE project in 2019, and the launch of OCRE tenders in 2020-2024 and 2024-2029. Also, he highlighted key benefits of the framework agreement for the R&E community, the award procedure for Moldova and its timeline.

Antonio Carrozzo of AWS shared insights on how the cloud transforms R&E, available loud opportunities, and how AWS is collaborating with NRENs in other parts of the world. He spoke about AWS services for academic institutions, from analytics to secure infrastructure. Real-world examples showcased how universities globally leverage AWS and OCRE for innovation in research and student experience. He additionally stressed the OCRE Framework Agreement’s role in cloud adoption for European R&E.

Sergiu Corlat, Vice-Rector for digitalisation at Moldova State University, presented the transformation of the university network and connection of its two campuses through optic fiber, which became the basis for the new generation network and eduroam campus coverage. In addition, the new University Data Centre, opened in May 2024, is powerful enough to ensure that all the learning and communications needs of students, lecturers and researchers are met.

Aurelia Hanganu, General Director of the National Agency for Research and Development, spoke about the opportunities and challenges for Open Science in Moldova. She underlined the need to integrate the existent institutions’ initiatives and approaches into more general rules for all R&E partners, according to Open Science principles. It is important to extend opportunities for researchers and lecturers besides Open Access, EOSC can be helpful in this regard, spurring collaboration and sharing of research outputs.

The event closed on a high note with stimulating presentation on how advanced technologies are supporting the public health system. In particular, Diana Valuta, Head of the Cervical Screening Coordination Unit at the Research Institute for Mother and Child Healthcare, in her passionate address, presented the impressive example of the National Colposcopy Network. This network, launched to enhance cervical cancer screening and prevention is already starting to provide women in Moldova with better access to colposcopy services. RENAM’s involvement consists in the provision of technical support for video conferencing with a complex solution that uses WebRTC technology making it possible to increase access to health services without undue delays.

Presentations: https://wiki.geant.org/display/eap/RENAM+25th+Anniversary+Conference