The Asia-Pacific Advanced Network (APAN) successfully conducted its 55th meeting last 13-17 March 2023 at Kathmandu, Nepal, bringing in researchers, scientists, policymakers, network professionals, telehealth practitioners, and experts from various fields in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond. The event was hosted by the Nepal Research and Education Network (NREN) and featured workshops, tutorials, presentations, and lightning talks on advanced network technologies and applications.
Among the activities was the Disaster Mitigation Working Group session where DOST-ASTI Director Dr. Franz de Leon gave the opening remarks. In his statement, he emphasized the importance of deploying scientific inventions, innovations, and technological solutions in localities to combat the impending threats of disasters and imminent risks of natural hazards.
“It is for us to initiate this kind of event to connect people, cultures, research, as well as education in our regions and the whole Asia-Pacific. Our purpose is to provide an ideal academic platform for researchers alike to disseminate their sophisticated research works and development of technologies and directions in the field of DRRM and climate change adaptation,” he added.
Dir. de Leon further spoke at the Closing Plenary session where he talked about building climate change resilience in the Philippines through science, technology, and innovation by emphasizing DOST’s projects and services used for disaster risk reduction and management.
Dir. de Leon also attended the 13th Asi@Connect Governor’s Meeting along with the other governors and steering committee members. Here, he represented DOST-ASTI’s support for Asi@Connect’s August 2024 project extension, allowing for continuous Eurasian linkages for the Philippine Research, Education, and Government Information Network (PREGINET).
In line with this, Supervising Science Research Specialist and PREGINET technical lead Bayani Benjamin Lara spoke in the ARENA-PAC agenda of the Network Engineering Workshop. In his presentation, he discussed the ongoing activities of PREGINET and highlighted the preparations being done for the upcoming Philippine-Guam link as a result of last year’s Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signing between ARENA-PAC and DOST.
Mr. Lara also took part in the Resource Public Key Infrastructure (RPKI) theory and hands-on session where he learned more about how RPKI could help PREGINET create more informed and secure routing decisions by adding a layer of network security to its links, making it highly beneficial to PREGINET’s network operators, stakeholders, and partners.
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About DOST-ASTI and APAN
DOST-ASTI’s connection with APAN was established in 2003 through PREGINET. To formalize and strengthen its participation, DOST-ASTI formed a memorandum of understanding with APAN in 2008 to become a primary voting member of the consortium. Through this collaboration, APAN and DOST-ASTI collectively participate and promote activities relating to the development and deployment of next-generation networking applications and services in research and education.