USD 1.7 million Grants and Awards Program for Asia Pacific’s Internet Technical community now open
Applications are now open for the 2021 Information Society Innovation Fund (ISIF Asia) Grants and Awards program, which this year will become one of the largest Internet development initiatives of its kind in the Asia Pacific.
ISIF Asia is a Grants and Awards program empowering organizations across the Asia Pacific region to research, design and implement Internet-based solutions to solve Internet development challenges that support community development and growth. Since 2008, ISIF Asia has provided 77 grants and 29 awards, allocating USD 3.58 million to 106 initiatives across 24 Asia Pacific economies.
This year’s ISIF Asia program will dramatically increase funding available to eligible public and private sector, academia, non-profit and social enterprise projects with USD 1.7 million available.
This new funding support from the Asia Pacific Internet Development Trust (APIDT) will expand ISIF’s Asia focus on inclusion, Internet infrastructure and knowledge. ISIF Asia is a program of the APNIC Foundation.
There are three Grants and Awards thematic areas:
- Inclusion: Initiatives that help ensure everyone has meaningful access to the Internet, online applications and services.
- Internet infrastructure:Initiatives to increase Internet speed, reduce maintenance and operational costs, improve reliability and/or security. Under this area, there will be a specific focus on IPv6 Deployment, with a separate pool of funding available for initiatives to deploy IPv6 at service providers and other network operators that will start accepting applications later in the year.
- Knowledge: Initiatives that develop technical capacity and/or research around Internet network operations for technical and non-technical audiences.
Under each of these thematic areas, ISIF Asia will be offering support for projects in different stages of development.
The APNIC Foundation’s Head of Programs and Partnerships, Sylvia Cadena, says the new funding will “seek to strengthen a network of grant and award recipients that actively contribute to an active, diverse and engaged Asia Pacific Internet technical community by funding innovative and relevant solutions that look to advance the development of the Internet with a focus on Inclusion, Infrastructure and Knowledge.”
“We are particularly excited about the new funding that will be available to support the deployment and use of IPv6 by network operators across the Asia Pacific, especially those in developing economies and underserved areas”, Ms Cadena adds.
“ISIF Asia has traditionally published full technical reports of all projects supported, to facilitate the dissemination and use of research and development outcomes. With the new funding, ISIF Asia will be looking at ways to improve our communication strategies to promote the work of our network of grants and awards recipients, with high-quality evidence-based communications products.”
To understand the application process, deadlines for application, and selection criteria please visit the ISIF Asia website and our new Grants and Awards Portal.
