In 2020 Belnet was appointed as the Mandated Organisation (MO) in Belgium for EOSC-A. The Mandated Organisation plays an important role in both facilitating the development of EOSC in the country as in representing and supporting the national research community on an international level. Belnet is the Belgian National Research and Education Network (NREN), which means Belnet provides the physical connections to the EOSC ecosystem, but is not a research funding organisation or a research performing organisation itself. In this interview we find out in what ways Belnet represents the needs of the research community in Belgium, how they engage with this community and which strengths and challenges the organisation detects when talking about the EOSC developments in Belgium.

As you may have heard, since last year Belnet has been involved in the BeQCI project, which aims to deploy a quantum communications network in Belgium. Several partners (universities, public institutions and private companies) have joined forces in a consortium, led by imec.

International Connectivity uses the GÉANT network, of which Belnet is a part. Belgian research and higher education institutions can therefore make point-to-point connections with sites abroad without leaving the research network.

Félix Gaudin gave a Lightning Talk about his thesis regarding an open-source tool allowing internet users to measure latency more precisely and efficiently

Did you know that all National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) in Europe, such as Belnet, are connected via the GÉANT network? To successfully address the numerous challenges faced by research and educational institutions, cooperation across national borders is of paramount importance.