‘A Study on the Prospects of the Internet for Research and Education 2014-2020‘, the final report of the ASPIRE study, is now available in pdf and printed paper format.
 
This report is the formal deliverable of ASPIRE (A Study on the Prospect of the Internet Research and Education), a foresight study to provide strategic recommendation to policy and decision makers. It marks the end of an 18-month study carried out by TERENA and funded by the European Commission as part of the GN3 (GÉANT) project. The final report is based on the four ASPIRE Topic Reports published in September 2012.

Jean-Luc Dorel, Project Officer, Unit C1, DG CONNECT said: "The results of the ASPIRE study funded by the GN3 project couldn't come at a better time – they are relevant for the discussions on GN3plus;, on Horizon 2020 and on CEF (Connecting Europe Facility). I expect that the overall conclusions and recommendations of this report will inspire some new actions for the future.”

Background information

This is the third foresight study conducted by TERENA, which follows on from the successful SERENATE and EARNEST studies completed in 2003 and 2008. ASPIRE was given the remit to explore the four topics likely to have a significant impact for research and education networks: the adoption of cloud services in the research and education community; the integration of mobile services into NRENs (national research and education networking organisations) service portfolios; middleware and managing data and knowledge in a data-rich world; the future role of NRENs.

The study was undertaken in two phases. During the first phase, which ran from April to August 2011, members of the European NREN community were invited to a first ASPIRE workshop to identify a small number of topics, of which four were selected. In phase two, the four topic reports along with recommendations were published and community stakeholders were invited to add their voices to the final recommendation report during a workshop in September 2012.

Further information

Read the ASPIRE Report on the Prospects of the Internet for Research and Education 2014-2020