The Silk Road goes digital

The EU have pledged €5 million Euros to bring high-speed internet to ‘The Silk Road’. The Silk Road is an ancient transportation channel spanning several continents, namely Asia, Africa and Europe. It has linked the eastern and western worlds for centuries.

Funded as part of the CAREN project – the transformation of The Silk Road looks to enhance the research ability of countries throughout central Asia such as Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan by providing a high-speed internet connection to 500 universities and research centres. Development Commissioner Andris Piebalgs said: 'This project will facilitate and improve the work of more than 500,000 researchers in Central Asia. I'm confident that EU aid will have a high impact on the economic growth of the countries.'
The CAREN project not only looks to boost research opportunities for the central Asia, but will also give access to information such as near-real-time seismic data, especially important for earthquake prone zones.
Neelie Kroes, Commissioner for the Digital Agenda described the importance of modernising The Silk Road as it “reduces the digital divide and contributes to the modernisation and development of research and education in the region.” Thanks to this project – a number of international partnerships have already been harboured; a tele-medicine initiative in Tajikistan, textile research between the UK and Uzbekistan, and environmental monitoring between Germany, Kyrgyzstan and the US.
Neelie Kroes concludes; “CAREN reflects the European Commission's strategy to address an important gap in Europe's global infrastructure for research by providing high-capacity, yet cost-effective data communication links with Central Asia”.

Published: Monday, 27th September 2010 by Adelle Kehoe