The Pacific Neighborhood Consortium (PNC) supports enhanced research and education through effective use of new technologies. Improved scholarly communication, information exchange, and collaborative research among the nations of the Pacific Rim creates a shared vision of researchers and educators united not only in space but as part of a virtual scholarly community.

The PNC was founded at the University of California, Berkeley. Universities and Institutions committed to sharing academic information resources. In 1997, the administrative operations were transferred to the Academia Sinica, Taiwan, a leading academic institution in Asia.

In the past ten years, PNC encourages scholars, academic institutions, and universities to collaborate and exchange their academic resources and research expertise. Academia Sinica's powerful networking infrastructure and information technology support a rage of international interdisciplinary programs across the Pacific Rim, enhancing effective utilization of research resources.

The mission of the Pacific Neighborhood Consortium (PNC) is to facilitate information exchanges among institutions of higher education in the Pacific Rim through computing and communications technology. PNC explores issues of information and technology exchange, interdisciplinary collaboration, and the development of the cultural knowledge contents. In fostering access to digitized data on the Pacific Rim, the PNC serves as a portal for access to digital research. It helps scholars to find the library, archive, and museum materials needed to support both teaching and research. The ultimate goal is to enable scholars to regard themselves, not as separated by vast distances, but as residents of a virtual neighborhood.