[NLnet] "Research and Higher Education Technology Fund" kickstarted

[Perslijst voor stichting NLnet]

"Research and Higher Education Technology Fund" kickstarted
The Vietsch Foundation and NLnet cooperate in Internet R&D for research
and education

                                        Amsterdam, September 28th 2016,

The Netherlands based Vietsch Foundation (www.vietsch-foundation.org)
makes the first contribution to the "Research and Higher Education
Technology Fund". The new thematic fund is managed by the NLnet
foundation, a public benefit organisation established in 1989 with the
mission to promote the exchange of electronic information. As a
framework for this initiative, the two organisations have signed a
Memorandum of Understanding regarding collaboration possibilities.

"Our mission is to promote research and development of advanced Internet
technology, services, processes for scientific research and higher
education", states Valentino Cavalli, chairman of the Board of the
Vietsch Foundation. "and NLnet has the same goals but for the entire
Internet community, so the collaboration is quite a natural match. The
broad experience in supporting open source projects related to network
technology and the extensive network built by the NLnet Foundation over
decades extends our own operational capabilities. And of course we hope
that our example will inspire others to contribute to the Research and
Higher Education Technology Fund, because it really delivers a lot of
value for money."

"The NLnet Foundation has a long history in supporting projects around
the world that contribute to a free, secure and robust Internet", adds
Marc Gauw, chairman of the Board of NLnet. "There is an overwhelming
need for the type of small-scale funding NLnet provides, clearly also
from the Research and Education networking community. Contrary to
popular expectations (and perhaps commons sense) there is only very
limited funding available for independent contributions in the area of
Internet infrastructure. So important and urgent projects actually
struggle to get funded, which is a loss for everybody. Through the
launching of the new fund and the contribution of the Vietsch
Foundation, we are now able to select and support additional project
proposals - which is of course wonderful".

The Vietsch Foundation was created by an endowment from the late dr. W.
Karel Vietsch, who was the Secretary General of TERENA, the
Trans-European Research and Education Networking Association. "Karel was
very involved in the Internet community", says dr. ir. Antoinette
Vietsch, member of the Board of the Vietsch Foundation. He spent a large
part of his life working in the area of research and education
networking, which he helped to develop with his energy, creativity and
thorough methodical approach. Through the projects supported by the
Vietsch Foundation and now also the Research and Higher Education
Technology Fund his mission to support people and new developments
continues after his unfortunate death."

The fund is already operational. Proposals can be sent through the
website of NLnet, at https://nlnet.nl. The next deadline for submission
is October 1st 2016.

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Not to be published
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More information about the "Research and Higher Education Technology Fund":

                https://nlnet.nl/nren

This press release is also available online:

               https://nlnet.nl/press/20160928-vietsch-RHETFund.html

Logo's of NLnet foundation in all sizes:

               https://nlnet.nl/logo/


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About the Vietsch Foundation (www.vietsch-foundation.org)
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The Vietsch Foundation is a charity that was established in February
2014 by the will of the late Secretary General of TERENA, Dr. W. Karel
Vietsch. The mission of the Vietsch Foundation is to promote research
and development of advanced Internet technology for scientific research.
The Vietsch Foundation does this by contributing funding to projects
that demonstrate potential value to progress European and global
research and education networking.

Each year, the Vietsch Foundation awards a medal of honour to people who
have contributed to the development of a service, technology or approach
that will be of lasting value to the research and education networking
community and its users.

For further information contact:

Valentino Cavalli/John Dyer
secretary at vietsch-foundation.org

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About NLnet Foundation
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NLnet foundation is an independent organisation whose means come from
donations and legacies. The history of NLnet goes back to 1982 when a
group of Europeans led by former NLnet director and member of the
Internet Hall of Fame Teus Hagen announced the European Unix Network
(EUnet) which became the first public wide area network in Europe and
the place where internet was introduced to Europe. NLnet also pioneered
the worlds first dial-in and ISDN infrastructure with full country
coverage. In 1997 all commercial activities were sold to UUnet (now
Verizon) and since that time NLnet has focussed on supporting the open
internet, and the privacy and security of internet users.

Its private capital ensures an absolute independent position. The
articles of association for the NLnet foundation state: "to promote the
exchange of electronic information and all that is related or beneficial
to that purpose". NLnet's core business is to support independent
organizations and people that contribute to an open information society
and to a safe, secure and open internet.

A number of times a year NLnet organises a worldwide open call for
projects to be supported. The long list of NLnet-funded projects
includes NLnet Labs, Tor project, Unhosted, Qubes, NOMA, Lantern
Project, FLOSS Manuals, Koruza, RFID Guardian, WebODF, Serval, Jitsi,
ARPA2, NoScript, CeroWRT and GNUnet.

Developers and researchers are invited to apply for grants.

                                https://nlnet.nl

For further information contact:

* Michiel Leenaars
  +31 6 27050947
* Marc Gauw
  +31 (0) 20 888 4252




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