All countries in the region except Bosnia and Herzegovina have academic research networks. In the past, there was a project dating back to 1998 that resulted in the formation of BIHARNET (Academic and research network of Bosnia and Herzegovina). The project was recognized as a good development basis for war-torn Bosnia and Herzegovina. The BIHARNET project is supported by the EU, the Government of Slovenia, the University of Sarajevo, Banja Luka, Tuzla, Džemal Bijedić University in Mostar and the University of Mostar.

The problem of establishing a research network in BiH is directly related to support at the state level, given that the political structure of such a project required the support of the entities of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republika Srpska. This project has been stopped and today we only have a good idea from that project. There were attempts to reactivate the idea in 2001, where they expressed support and took over the financing, but none of that materialized.

Today, there is certainly an interest of all research institutions in BiH to establish a research network, as evidenced by the fact that today most universities in BiH independently finance certain ICT infrastructure in order to communicate in any way with research networks in the area.

Significance of the project

Higher education reform in Europe is an intensive process aimed at providing a single academic space. The changes involved in the reform process are very diverse, and the time in which these changes need to be implemented is getting shorter. If we take into account the increasingly complex expectations and needs of all participants in the educational process, ie. universities (teachers, scientists and students), society, economy and the state, there is inevitably resistance to change. Due to the movement towards the doors of the EU, reforms are necessary for our society, which is burdened with numerous economic, political, social and other problems and has never needed a stronger academic community than it needs today.

The need for investment in ICT (information and communication technologies) has been recognized by BiH, because with its medium-term development strategy and Action Plan for the development of the information society in BiH until 2020, the establishment of a scientific research network was planned. In addition, the document Strategic Directions for the Development of Higher Education in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 2012 to 2022 "SYNERGY AND PARTNERSHIP" identified the lack of an academic research network (SWOT analysis: inadequate and underdeveloped academic and research network in BiH)

A part of the academic network has been formed in the Republika Srpska, which has established a connection with the research network of the Republic of Serbia. This academic network called SARNET is now partially active and functional, and access to academia functions as a subsection of the Serbian Network.

European academic research networks have been brought together as part of the GEANT network project, enabling scientific and research institutions in the EU to have a multigigabit platform for cooperative, transnational research with support for academic, scientific and educational institutions. Today, GEANT supports more than 30 research networks in Europe and over 4,000 scientific research institutions funded from the European Commission budget.

Today, there is certainly an interest of all research institutions in BiH to establish a research network, as evidenced by the fact that today most universities in BiH independently finance certain ICT infrastructure in order to communicate in any way with research networks in the area.

Project goals

The main goal of the project is to find opportunities to connect the existing computer networks of the University / University in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and later connect to the academic network in the RS.

In addition to the above, the project should provide for the formation of a working group composed of experts from all universities in Bosnia and Herzegovina and neighboring countries who will continuously work on the implementation of the project of connecting Bosnia and Herzegovina to the world academic network.

The project "Academic Research Network - AIM FBiH" should provide information on the current state of ICT infrastructure in public higher education institutions in the Federation of BiH, and opportunities to improve existing services and ways to better access research resources and scientific libraries of knowledge.