The Council of the European Union has included two initiatives involving GÉANT among the flagship investments of the Global Gateway strategy: the Blue Raman submarine cable system and an initiative to develop a secure, high-capacity digital backbone across the Western Balkans.
The International Digital Strategy, adopted by the European Commission, aims to strengthen global digital partnerships, infrastructure and governance through three main priorities: expanding digital partnerships, promoting the EU Tech Business Offer in partner countries, and reinforcing Europe's role in global digital governance. Within this framework, secure connectivity is presented as a strategic priority, bringing together competitiveness, economic security, technological sovereignty and international cooperation alongside submarine cables, regional backbones, high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure, data centres, 5G, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence.
The flagship project remains Blue Raman, developed by TI Sparkle and Alcatel Submarine Networks in collaboration with GÉANT. The 11,700 km submarine cable system will connect Europe, starting from Italy, with India, with landing points across the Mediterranean, the Middle East and East Africa. Co-funded by the European Commission with €37 million and supported by TI Sparkle, the initiative is designed to strengthen connectivity, research, innovation and technological convergence between Europe, Africa and India. GÉANT will provide the European research and education networking component, working alongside UbuntuNet Alliance, which serves the African research and education community.
The second initiative focuses on the Western Balkans. During the EU–Western Balkans Investment Forum, the European Commission, 4iG and GÉANT signed a Letter of Intent to develop a secure, high-quality digital connectivity backbone across the region. The project includes the EAGLE submarine cable linking Albania and Egypt, together with a new regional terrestrial backbone connecting the Western Balkans to major European data hubs, including Sofia, Vienna and Frankfurt.
This recognition highlights the contribution of national research and education networks to Europe's digital infrastructure. GARR, Italy's National Research and Education Network for education, research and culture, is interconnected with the pan-European GÉANT backbone. Through this connection, its users collaborate with research and education networks in around 60 countries worldwide. As GÉANT expands into new international connectivity corridors, the benefits extend to Italy's research community, enhancing its ability to exchange data, participate in distributed scientific projects and rely on more resilient and diverse digital infrastructure.
More broadly, the Council of the European Union's document reflects the importance of the entire research and education networking ecosystem, in which GÉANT's pan-European backbone operates in partnership with national NRENs and regional organisations, from UbuntuNet Alliance in Africa to collaborations across Asia and the Western Balkans. National networks such as GARR therefore play a dual role: they provide advanced connectivity to universities, research centres, schools and cultural institutions, while also contributing to the critical mass required to make European and intercontinental infrastructure investments both viable and sustainable.