Grid@Asia - Advanced Grid Research Workshops through European and Asian Co-operation

The Grid@Asia project will foster collaboration in Grid research and technologies between the European Union and Asian countries with a particular focus on China and South Korea. The project is coordinated by ERCIM and supported by the European Commission.

Grid@Asia will define a joint research agenda to address international Grid priorities relying on a core of leading European Grid research institutes. This initiative will be supported by Asian partners to ensure on-site organisation, enhanced visibility and the participation of high-profile industrial and scientific delegations. Grid@Asia is expected to provide Europe with a clear picture of the Grid community in those two Asian countries and to prepare a reliable ground for sustainable and long-term collaboration. The project is implemented through three principle steps:

• identification of Chinese and South Korea key players in Grid research and technologies,
• organisation of focused workshops around EU/Asia research and industrial agendas
• establishment of sustainable cooperation and dissemination activities.

Grid@Asia will support long term international cooperation by weaving additional links with leading Asian Grid research communities, in particular through the integration of Asian expertise with leading European Grid initiatives in the 6th Framework Programme of the European Union (such as Networks of Excellence, Integrated Projects, STREPS, etc.) and later on within the forthcoming 7th Framework Programme (FP). This will position the European Grid community as a leading centre of excellence, enrich European expertise in the field and support the adoption of common Grid standards worldwide.

To reach these goals it was decided to organise a series of three workshops in China and South Korea (Beijing, Shanghai and Seoul). The first event took place from 21 to 23 June 2005 in Beijing, hosted by the Beihang University.

The workshop focussed on three main scientific themes - GRID Middleware, GRID Applications, Tools and Programming Environments - and allowed the European and Asian Grid communities to discuss and identify their common areas of interest. Two series of presentations were given. The first on current European projects supported by the Commission, such as AKOGRIMO, NEXTGRID, SIMDAT, DILIGENT, DEISA, CoreGRID and GRIDLAB and similar Chinese projects. The second featured project ideas which could lead to the submission of common proposals. National and multilateral programmes including their funding mechanisms were also presented with the goal to initiate collaborations between promising European and Asian research teams within the 6th and 7th FP.

The next workshop, to be organised before the end of 2005, will focus on Grid applications.

Link:
http://www.gridatasia.net

Please contact:
Bruno Le Dantec, ERCIM office
Tel: +33 4 92 38 50 10
E-mail: officeercim.org