Magazine

Anyone comparing the robust activity in the port to the structured world of education would expect the focus on IT at the Rotterdam Port Authority to be miles away from that at SURF. In contrast, Claudia de Andrade de Wit, ultimately responsible for digital infrastructure, surprisingly names many areas of focus that will seem familiar to us.

"Our work is more than connectivity. It is connecting," says RNP (Rede Nacional de Ensino e Pesquisa) on its website. What does Brazil's NREN mean by this? Two of its directors talk about what they do and what drives them.

One thing is for sure, this is not going away. Metaverse is taking an increasingly prominent place in education and research. We discuss visions and expectations with four board members.

Working under architecture is the approach for digital transformation in context. This does require making and keeping agreements. This requires governance. "Not everything is clear yet, but you are talking to each other."

Singapore, beating heart of Asia's networking infrastructure. Numerous national research and education networks (NRENs) and companies in Asia and far beyond have linked their networks through the SingAREN Open Exchange. How did this 'Global eXchange Point' or GXP become so successful? We asked Francis Lee, founding president of SingAREN.

How do you board members of an ambitious and complex accelerator programme? Chairman of the steering committee of the National Growth Fund programme Npuls Lodewijk Asscher has strong ideas about this: "Let's not deny the differences in interests. The way forward lies in content and in the conversation we have about it."

Digitising research requires expertise, and that is scarce. Digital Competence Centres (DCCs) pool that expertise. Moreover, they make it easier for institutions to share knowledge and develop services together. Indeed, needs in this area appear to be widely shared.

Open standards are an important prerequisite for successful digitisation. We talk to three experts about adoption, trends and the urgent need for standards. "We want to ski from many different mountains, but don't have a common ski binding yet."