2019 Call for Grant Proposals and Award Nominations Extended until 21 June

ISIF Asia has extended the deadline for the 2019 Call for Grant Proposals and Award Nominations Extended until 21 June midnight UTC.

This year ISIF Asia will allocate USD 115,000 in funding across 2 categories.

Five grants and one award will be allocated to projects that have a clear development outcome aligned with the focus areas and that demonstrate a concrete contribution to research and/or implementation of Internet-based solutions, Internet operations, Internet infrastructure, technologies and protocols within the Asia Pacific region.

2019 Grants

The Internet Operations Research Grants will support research focused on the availability, reliability, and security of the Internet, with a particular focus on focus on operational stability and security. The research outcomes should aim to expand access to knowledge, expand coverage for research applications and maximize the benefit to the community. Three small grants of USD 20,000 USD will be allocated, for a total of USD 60,000 in funding. 

The I4D Powering Internet Infrastructure Grants will support the research and development of software and/or hardware solutions that can improve the stability and reliability of how Internet infrastructure is powered. This includes but is not limited to solar, wind, and hydraulic solutions used to provide Internet access in remote areas, during disasters, or to power other infrastructure such as IXPs, root servers, datacentres, etc. The monitoring of batteries and their consumption, energy efficiency tools, the management and administration of micro-grids will be considered for this call.  Two small grants of USD 20,000 will be allocated, for a total of USD 40,000 in funding. 

To know more about each of the grants categories and apply, check the focus areas, eligibility criteria and guidelines provided.

2019 I4D Powering Internet Infrastructure Award 

The 2019 Internet for Development Award will be given to one organization working on research and development of software and/or hardware solutions that can improve the stability and reliability of how Internet infrastructure is powered. This includes but is not limited to solar, wind, and hydraulic solutions used to provide Internet access in remote areas, during disasters, or to power other infrastructure such as IXPs, root servers, datacentres, etc. The monitoring of batteries and their consumption, energy efficiency tools, the management and administration of micro-grids will be considered for this award. The award includes a cash prize of USD 3,500 and a travel grant to attend the Internet Governance Forum 2019 in Berlin.

To know more about the 2019 Award and apply, check the focus areas, eligibility criteria and guidelines.

 

Community LTE in Papua project by Yanobama published Final Report

The project “Community LTE in Papua”, delivered a LTE (CoLTE) network -a lightweight, Internet only LTE core network (EPC)- designed to facilitate the deployment and operation of small-scale, community owned and operated LTE networks, with a particular eye towards expanding Internet access into rural areas with limited and unreliable backhaul.

The CoLTE network comes paired with a basic, IP based network manager as well as basic web services. The key differentiator of CoLTE, when compared to existing LTE solutions, is that in CoLTE the EPC is designed to be located in the field and deployed alongside a small number of cellular radios (eNodeBs), as opposed to the centralized model seen in large-scale telecom networks.

The project also provided performance results and lessons learned from a real world CoLTE network deployed in rural Indonesia. This network has been sustainably operating for over six months, currently serves over 40 active users, and provides measured backhaul reductions of up to 45% when compared to cloud core solutions.

Read their Final Technical Report for all the details about their work in Indonesia.