TEHRAN – Iran won the prize in e-science section of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Forum 2019, which is currently underway in Geneva, Switzerland, IRNA reported.

Iran National Research and Education Network (SHOA) was selected from six nominees in the section during a ceremony on Tuesday.

Eighteen WSIS prizes were awarded, recognized successful initiatives by governments, private sector actors, civil society members and partnerships between all stakeholders. The winners were awarded for their tremendous efforts and achievements on implementation of WSIS outcomes.

“Yes, today the #WSIS 2019 announced the winners. Iran National Research and Education Network was selected amongst six nominees! The happiness of my colleagues and the faces of [representatives] of those countries who imposed sanctions on Iran are worth watching,” Information and Communication Technology Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi who travelled to Geneva to attend the event, wrote on his Twitter account.

On the WSIS Forum 2018 website, SHOA is described as a Public–private partnership (P.P.P.) project between private sector, government and academia. As an Iranian National Research and Education Network (NREN), it provides specialized internet service provider dedicated to supporting the needs of the research and education communities within a country.

It is usually distinguished by support for a high-speed backbone network, often offering dedicated channels for individual research projects. NRENs are usually the places where new Internet protocols and architectures are introduced before deployment within the Public Internet. Two examples of these protocols are IPv6 and IP multicast. Two examples of architecture are client/server and Cloud computing.

SHOA is one of the components of the Science economy ecosystem. It has contributed to the development of e-Science in Iran, as well as the capacity building of science development in the country, and has provided high-speed access for all universities and research centers and students and boost the economy in Iran.

The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Forum is a global United Nations (UN) multistakeholder platform facilitating the implementation of the WSIS Action Lines for advancing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It is co-organized by ITU, UNESCO, UNDP and UNCTAD, in close collaboration with all WSIS Action Line co-/facilitators and other UN organizations.

In 2019, WSIS celebrates its 10th anniversary of the establishment of WSIS Forum from April 8 to 12, under the theme “Information and Communication Technologies for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals”. 

SB/MQ/MG