The EUMEDCONNECT2 Project

EUMEDCONNECT2 -  In A Nutshell  

• Providing high-capacity Internet connectivity for academic and scientific collaborations
• Directly connecting southern and eastern Mediterranean partner countries: Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Palestine, Syria and Tunisia
• Linking other Mediterranean and European partners via GÉANT
• Taking forward Mediterranean region e-infrastructures pioneered by EUMEDCONNECT since 2004
• Jointly funded by the European Commission and the Mediterranean partners to reduce the digital disparity between the Mediterranean and European regions

An Ongoing Success

EUMEDCONNECT2 builds on the success of its predecessor project, EUMEDCONNECT. Launched in 2004 under the European Commission’s EUMEDIS Programme, which aimed to develop an inclusive Information Society in the region, EUMEDCONNECTcreated the first regional data-communications network for the Mediterranean. The project officially ended in December 2007 but, thanks to the ongoing interest of the European Commission and the commitment of the project partners, a smooth transition to EUMEDCONNECT2 has been ensured. The importance of the network's seamless continuation was highlighted at a major EU-MED e-infrastructures event in Brussels in October 2007 and further endorsed at the Euro-Med ICT Ministerial Meeting held in Cairo in February 2008.

Following tendering conducted by DANTE and the Italian National Research and Education Network - Consortium GARR -, EUMEDCONNECT2 was formally launched at the 2nd EU-MED event in November 2008 in Amman, Jordan.

The European Commission is contributing around 50% (€4m) towards the costs of EUMEDCONNECT2 from its regional European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI South) budget, with the remaining funds being provided by the Mediterranean partners. The project will run until late 2010.

EUMEDCONNECT2 maintains in a more cost-effective way the high-bandwidth connectivity established by its predecessor and continues to serve the growing number of projects for which the network has become an essential infrastructure.