The aim of Star-Net was to be the first step towards the formation and development of a consolidated structure for support of organisations in all New Member States (NMS) and Associated Countries (AC) for participation in IST activities, building on the knowledge, tools and services developed within some of the most relevant IST support actions over the recent years. In this way Star-Net builded on two interconnected structures:

• Star-Net Central Unit - Star-Net was built around a core group of service providers that gathers 3 experienced organisations in providing support services within the IST field and that are currently coordinating successful SSA for the provision of services and/or development of tools for NMS and AC organisations in order to enhance their participation in IST activities;
• Star-Net Regional Nodes - a network of 13 local nodes, one in each NMS or AC, that benefited from the core group services in order to develop and enhance the competences and skills in order to provide continuous support to organisations in their country.
• The Star-net addressed the following strategic objectives:
• to set-up a network covering all 10 NMS and 3 AC, sharing a common identity, code of ethics, objectives and work methods;
• to implement a full range of services and tools for the animation, training, information sharing and deployment of the network services, available from a Central Unit built upon the experience and knowledge develop under current on-going IST SSA projects;
• to deploy a common working plan in each NMS and AC, under the supervision of the Central Unit, aiming at addressing a total of 520 organisations and to support at least 100 organisations in NMS and ACC to submit proposals to the IST programme;
• to launch the basis for the continuation of the network from 2007 onwards, with support from the EU structural funds mechanisms in NMS and aiming at self-sustainability through the progressive introduction of a charging policy.