By the Decision of the President of the Republic of Croatia, Ms. Kolinda Grabar Kitarović, the Croatian Academic and Research Network – CARNET and the University of Zagreb Computing Centre (Srce) were awarded Charters of the Republic of Croatia today.
CARNET was awarded the Charter for outstanding services in the long-standing development of education for individuals and Croatian society as a whole, with the assistance of new information technologies and the development of a digitally advanced society, with a special focus on the educational and academic population in the Republic of Croatia.
The Order of the Republic of Croatia is awarded to international organizations, legal entities, foreign statesmen, and Croatian and foreign citizens for their contribution to the development and promotion of the international standing of the Republic of Croatia, and for their contribution to the scientific, cultural, economic, and other development of the Republic of Croatia.
On behalf of CARNET, the Charter was received by its CEO, Goran Kezunović, and on behalf of Srce, by its CEO, Dr. Zoran Bekić.
The idea of creating a joint national computer and communication infrastructure and introducing the Internet in the Republic of Croatia was initiated in 1991 at the University of Zagreb Computing Centre (Srce). On October 3, 1991, the coordination body for the establishment of the Croatian educational computer network was established.
The first meeting of the Committee for the Croatian Academic and Research Network – CARNET was held on this day, amidst a wartime environment. The Committee was appointed by the then Minister of Science, Technology and Informatics, Prof. Dr. Anto Čović, and its objective was to organize a network that would enable every researcher or student to communicate with all researchers in the Republic of Croatia and the entire world. Additionally, we must specifically highlight the active assistance provided to the Committee by the then Deputy Minister, and later Minister, Prof. Dr. Sc. Branko Jeren.
A special contribution to the development of the Croatian Academic and Research Network – CARNET was certainly provided by the University of Zagreb Computing Centre (Srce). The employees and collaborators of Srce actively supported the construction and maintenance of the CARNET network, the establishment of the CARNET institution, as well as the development of numerous advanced services for CARNET’s end users.
Besides building computer and communication networks for all academic institutions in the Republic of Croatia, two other significant breakthroughs were accomplished during its initial years: the establishment of the first Internet connection between Croatia and the rest of the world on November 17, 1992, which marked the beginning of the Internet era in the Republic of Croatia, and three months later, on March 27, 1993, the registration and commencement of operations for the national top-level domain .hr. During the war, the CARNET network actively disseminated information on war developments in the Republic of Croatia, thereby combating the media blackout that the young country was facing.
The Croatian Academic and Research Network – CARNET today offers its users more than 70 services, all in order to advance primary and secondary education, higher education, and science, as well as the work and lives of schoolchildren, teachers, students, collaborators, professors, and scientists, by using information and communication technology, familiarizing them with its possibilities, and assisting in its use.