After a complete overhaul of the GÉANT Compendium website in 2023, and a renewal and revitalization of the Compendium Report in 2024, 2025 sees more exciting changes for the GÉANT Compendium of NRENs.
The development of the GÉANT Compendium of NRENs is overseen by the Compendium Advisory Board, a group drawn from NREN experts and dedicated GÉANT staff members, with an aim to ensure that the Compendium remains relevant and meets the need of the community. Early 2025 saw the addition of GÉANT data specialist and Artificial Intelligence (AI) expert Daniela Brauner, and since the summer the group has expanded again with the addition of Jan Meijer, Senior International Strategy Advisor at the Norwegian NREN Sikt, and Gvantsa Jibladze, GÉANT’s Partner Insights Analyst. These three new members join longstanding Advisory Board members János Mohácsi (ProM/NIIF, Hungary), Hank Nussbacher (IUCC, Israel), and Jennifer Ross from GÉANT.
The 2025 Compendium Survey will open on 20 October 2025, asking NRENs about their organisations, their standards and policies, connected users, network, and the services they offer. The survey will remain open until 1 December, to allow data cleansing and preliminary analysis before the results are published online in early February. Compendium administrators have been invited to a kick-off infoshare on 20 October, where they can learn about new questions and request guidance for completing the survey, with support remaining available via GÉANT Partner Relations throughout the survey cycle.
With each iteration of the survey, the Compendium Advisory Board attempts to strike the right balance between consistency (allowing a long-term view of the evolution of the community) and responsiveness (to ensure new and emerging trends are captured). This year though sees one of the boldest overhauls, with a modernisation of questions in the Network section, the return of a question on NREN expenditure (the percentages dedicated to equipment, transmission capacity, salaries, etc.), an update to the list of services NRENs offer their users, and a new sub-section on AI.
The great strength of the Compendium is the breadth of information it contains about European NRENs, making it a vital resource for NRENs seeking to benchmark against peers, gain inspiration, spot possible opportunities, to celebrate achievements and set out requirements to policymakers. However, this value is dependent upon the reliability of the data collected, so the entire Compendium Advisory Board would like to thank their colleagues for their continued diligence; we can’t wait to learn even more about our community in the coming months!
Jan, what do you find most interesting in the Compendium? And what is something you look forward to the Compendium doing more of?
In the era of increased cross-border integration of research and education, the Compendium is a great tool to support joint delivery of truly pan-European infrastructure and services. It is crucial to have a thorough understanding of the different national markets and contexts the GÉANT members operate in, to have solid data underpinning the business cases for our collective efforts. I hope the Compendium can evolve into a tool to help us with effective market research for innovative public-sector R&E services.
Gvantsa, as a newcomer to the GÉANT community, how has the Compendium helped you understand NRENs?
As a newcomer to the GÉANT community and coming from a completely different background, the Compendium has been an invaluable starting point for understanding what NRENs are and how they operate. It is a unique resource that brings together, in just one place, a comprehensive picture of the NREN landscape. What stood out to me the most is the diversity of NRENs, each with its own structure, set of priorities, and ways of serving research and education. Having access to consistent data going back to the early 2000s makes it possible to see how NRENs have reshaped themselves and adapted over time, which helps put today’s challenges and opportunities into context. I also value that the data is publicly available and easy to download, making the Compendium an accessible resource that the whole community, and beyond, can learn from and build on. I look forward to contributing to the upcoming iteration of the Compendium and deepening my understanding of the NREN community.
Daniela, tell us about the new sub-section on AI – how has it come about?
A new section with questions about AI was designed to provide the GÉANT community with an overview of how NRENs are engaging with artificial intelligence. By asking about available infrastructure, data services, AI platforms, domain-specific applications, and training initiatives, the community can assess NREN’s readiness, capabilities, and strategic initiatives on using and supporting AI. The responses will help us to map the current landscape of AI services in European NRENs, highlight the strength of our infrastructures on the AI support, and share initiatives in the next Compendium report. This overview will also enable Special Interest Group on AI for NRENs (SIG-AI) and the GÉANT GN5-2 project work packages to better support the collaboration of NRENs in Europe in terms of AI usage and support and guide the actions to engage the community and promote the development of aligned AI services.
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