In response to the President’s call for a new global engagement that includes expanded opportunities in innovation and science and technology, the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs (OES) has signed a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Civilian Research & Development Foundation (CRDF) which allocates $1.5 million for the establishment of a Digital Science Library for the Maghreb. The initiative is part of a suite of programs that implement the vision President Obama articulated in his June 2009 speech in Cairo, called GIST, Global Innovation, Through Science and Technology.
The Digital Science Library will help support development in science and technology, increase access to digitized scientific data and research, and encourage partnership and networking. By facilitating the sharing of knowledge, the Library will be an essential tool for the professional development of the regional scientific community and furthering sustainable relationships between U.S. and foreign science communities.
The initiative builds on work begun in 2007 by the Fulbright Academy of Science & Technology, with funding from the National Science Foundation, United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Moroccan Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research. The Library initiative will be launched in summer 2010 with new library resources coming online throughout the ensuing year accompanied by hands-on workshops across the region to support and promote the program.
For more information on science and technology programs launched by various U.S. agencies over the past year, please visit: www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/ostp/blog.
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