“Foresight 2030 is a great example of what NRENs do best: collaborate for the benefit of the unique and crucial digital infrastructure which supports research and education and the benefit they bring to science and learning, communities and economies internationally. The report demonstrates the reach and significance of the technical expertise NRENs convene within and across nations for leading edge digital infrastructure supporting sustainable, resilient and innovative research and education. Without NRENs collaborating with each other, we would all be less able to benefit from international excellence in our sector.” Victoria Moody, Jisc, member of the NREN expert group
The Navigating Change: Foresight 2030 report was published at the end of 2024. It was prepared by the team of authors led by PSNC with the help of an appointed group of nine experts from GÉANT members, as well as extensive input from the wider community. We have done this before – looking into the future, defining the potential directions of the evolution of NRENs, and the last time we did this was 2016 with the ASPIRE study. GÉANT has changed since then, NRENs have evolved, and our environment itself is quite different. There are two key outcomes of the foresight exercise: the framework to look into the future of NRENs, and most important factors that may affect their evolution according to experts involved.
The report can serve as a foresight tool, primarily for use by NRENs, which can be adapted to reflect pan-European, national or regional contexts. The study has been prepared in a way that allows it to be adapted to the NREN’s unique/specific environment or foresight interest.
The thought-process is based upon three key steps: identifying challenges, determining factors, and developing scenarios. To modify the outcomes of the report, you’d only have to introduce changes in any one of three steps reflecting the situation in your environment.
For GÉANT and the NREN community, the experts have prioritised and analysed nine challenge areas.
So, what does the future hold? Of that we can’t be certain, but the foresight approach taken helps us collectively and individually think about what the future may hold and what we might do in response to best support the communities we serve. Readers are encouraged to read the full report for the analysis of the challenge areas and its relevance for our community, and the path from identifying the challenges to projecting potential futures.
Three most interesting narratives for the future of the NREN community and GÉANT are discussed in the report:
- Playing the Fair Game – a future where NRENs are one of the players delivering services to the R&E, maximising and capitalising their values and evolving to collaborate with other players for the best quality.
- Beaten Track – a future with minimal change for GÉANT and NREN environment but where minimal change would actually require significant effort to achieve.
- Rough Seas – a most challenging set of factors where the environment is less favorable to the community of GÉANT and NRENs.
A few themes have been resonating throughout the scenarios. The foresight report identifies them as high-priority areas where we as GÉANT and the whole community of NRENs will have to make choices during upcoming years:
- Future-proofing skills.
- Working effectively with commercial actors.
- Making R&E more trusted and secure environment.
- Enabling NRENs to adapt to change.
These scenarios are by no means a complete set of futures that can be projected using the toolset of the report. Rather, they highlight a spectrum of possibilities to explore when looking ahead. We encourage everyone to explore other potential futures and the actions you might need to navigate these paths! You’re welcome to try!
