The Vietsch Foundation currently operates in three directions: the Annual Medal of Honour, the Seed Project Funding, and the collection of Funds to support URAN in the difficult situation the NREN of Ukraine is finding itself due to the current war.

The Seed Project Funding line relies purely on the donation made by its founder Karel Vietsch and does not rely on any other sources of funding. 12 years after it was established at Karel’s premature departure, the Foundation is left with a limited budget for new projects, with the effect that we will be able to fund just a small number of new projects in the coming period. For this reason starting from summer 2026 the board has adopted a stricter additional funding criterion, in addition to those previously identified, and has updated its list of criteria accordingly.

Staring from summer 2026 new project proposals must show a clear link with the community and/or the business of European National Research and Education Networks (NREN). Proposals must either include some activities involving NRENs or obtain support from (an) NREN about the development/test/deployment of the proposed technology or service, or in the absence of any of these, provide evidence that the results of the project will be of impact and value for the NRENs and their business. Such relevance and impact will be judged at the discretion of the Board, possibly in consultation with a relevant NREN community member.