COOPERACION LATINOAMERICANA DE REDES AVANZADAS

Their core work

CLARA is the Latin American regional research and education network (NREN) organization, connecting national academic networks across Latin America and enabling high-speed data exchange between universities, research centers, and their global counterparts. They operate the ALICE/RedCLARA backbone infrastructure that links Latin American NRENs to GÉANT (Europe) and other regional networks worldwide. Their core mission is bridging the digital divide in research connectivity, ensuring Latin American scientists can collaborate with European and African peers on equal technical footing.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

CLARA's early H2020 work (2015-2017) centered on physical network infrastructure — connecting NRENs across continents, building communication networks linking Africa and Latin America, and establishing the middleware layer needed for cross-border research collaboration. By 2018, their focus shifted toward the content and policy layer: open science, open scholarship, open research data, and the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC). This progression from "build the pipes" to "enable open science on top of them" reflects a natural maturation from infrastructure provider to open science enabler.

CLARA is moving from building physical research networks toward becoming a key non-European node in the global open science and EOSC ecosystem.

How they like to work

CLARA operates primarily as a participant in large European-led consortia (3 of 4 projects), but demonstrated coordination capability in MAGIC — their largest project by far at EUR 510K. With 88 unique partners across 44 countries, they function as a hub organization that brings Latin American connectivity to otherwise Europe-centric consortia. Their value lies in being the gateway to an entire continent's research network, making them a strategic rather than technical partner.

CLARA has collaborated with 88 unique partners across 44 countries — an exceptionally wide geographic spread for an organization with only 4 projects, reflecting their role as a regional network umbrella connecting multiple national networks. Their partnerships span Europe, Africa, and Latin America, making them a rare tri-continental bridge in the H2020 landscape.

What sets them apart

CLARA is the only Latin American regional research network organization in the H2020 ecosystem, giving them an irreplaceable role: no other partner can deliver continent-wide access to Latin American universities and research institutions through a single relationship. For any EU project needing Latin American research network connectivity, open science outreach beyond Europe, or South-South-North collaboration infrastructure, CLARA is effectively the only option. Their Montevideo base and NGO structure mean they operate as a neutral, non-commercial connector trusted by national networks across the region.

Highlights from their portfolio

• MAGIC
  CLARA's only coordinated project and largest by far (EUR 510K), developing middleware for global virtual communities — demonstrates their ability to lead international infrastructure initiatives.
• OpenAIRE-Advance
  Shows CLARA's evolution from network plumbing to open science policy, contributing Latin American perspective to the European Open Science Cloud ecosystem.
• TANDEM
  Trans-African network development project where CLARA brought Latin American NREN expertise to help develop African research networks — a South-South cooperation model.