Asia Open RAN Academy

The Academy is an alliance of academic, government, and industry stakeholders in the Philippines and beyond who share a common objective: Advance an open, interoperable, reliable, and secure Internet and vibrant digital economy through increased cooperation, competition, and choice. The Academy's immediate goal is to accelerate the adoption of Open RAN technology through workforce development by creating a curriculum that is centrally designed but offers learning options that are distributed – initially across numerous universities in the Philippines, but with the intention of facilitating a consortium of learning institutions without geographic limitations. The Academy will also allow its participating learners to be job-ready by providing hands-on access to an interoperability lab and certification options. For example, engineering practitioners may enroll in stand-alone courses to augment their current understanding of RAN with critical features of Open RAN (which has a significant computer programming dimension, an extension of Software Defined and Virtual Networks). On the other hand, engineering students may take Open RAN courses as electives as part of their B.A. or post-graduate education. The co-creation of the Open RAN curriculum engaged over a hundred interviews with academics, technologists, Mobile Network Operators (MNO), and manufacturers. Further refinements included Focus Group Discussions (FGD) and Visioning workshops with key stakeholders and thought leaders in the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, Korea, the United States, and elsewhere. The curriculum consists of a core of specific courses, plus foundational courses that help learners appreciate the broader context and the path ahead, including Artificial Intelligence.