* Feature image caption: (from the left) Gingerlei Porter (UH), Alana Kanahele (UH), Umerang Imetengel (UH), Keiko Okawa (Keio), Christina Higa (UH), Riho Suzuki (Keio), Eliko Akashi (Keio), Marcos Sadao Maekawa (APNIC Foundation)
In January 2026, SOI Asia held a series of meetings in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi, marking an important step forward in shaping a shared Pacific engagement following the commitment agreed at the 60th SOI Asia Meeting in Bangkok in October 2025. The meetings brought together the SOI Asia team, colleagues from the University of Hawaiʻi, and technical partners from ARENA-PAC.
The program began with a one-day meeting with the ARENA-PAC team, SOI Asia’s technical infrastructure partner, to align perspectives on regional connectivity developments led by the WIDE Project. This was followed by a two-day working meeting at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, where SOI Asia and the UH team shared recent activities, experiences, and ongoing engagements across the Pacific.
A key focus of the discussions was identifying priority directions for 2026, with an eye toward the Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting (PALM 11) to be held in Japan in 2027. The teams discussed potential target islands and priority domains for collaboration, including disaster management and weather-related challenges, medical and health care, cultural preservation, cybersecurity, and digital literacy.
These conversations helped clarify a shared direction for the years ahead and reaffirmed the long-term vision guiding SOI Asia’s Pacific engagement: a connected and resilient Pacific, where research, education, innovation, culture, health, inclusion, and technology empower communities to thrive in harmony with their environment. Building on the Honolulu meetings, SOI Asia and the University of Hawaiʻi Telecommunication and Social Informatics (TASI) Research Program of the Social Science Research Institute agreed to work together over the coming decade to gradually build foundations, pilot collaborative activities, and strengthen human and institutional capacity across the region.
This evolving collaboration is supported by the broader SOI Asia community, whose collective experience and partnerships continue to shape the initiative. Further updates will be shared as discussions progress and activities take form.