Leading Innovation Hubs From Four Arctic Countries Gather in Northern Norway

The Arctic is becoming increasingly important for technology, energy, marine industries, and future value creation. At the same time, there is a growing need for cross-border collaboration between business, research, and the public sector.

From September 14-17, entrepreneurs, technologists, researchers and innovators from Norway, Sweden, Finland and Canada will gather in Brønnøysund, Northern Norway, to develop new data-driven solutions for the High North.

"This is an opportunity for Brønnøysund, Nordland and Northern Norway to establish a position in the Arctic innovation ecosystem", Maylinn Storjord, project manager at the regional innovation company, Kunnskapsparken Helgeland, tells High North News.

International collaboration

The festival is the first of its kind and is organised by Kunnskapsparken Helgeland, the register of business enterprises, Brønnøysund Register Centre, and RISE Research Institutes of Sweden.

"This international collaboration is extremely important to us. New perspectives, contacts and opportunities arise when we can meet across national borders," says Jan Erik Nerdal, head of section at the Brønnøysund Register Centre.

Contributors include Norway’s Minister of Digitalization Karianne Tung (Labour Party), Canada’s Ocean Supercluster, Nordic Innovation, Digital Norway and several leading research and innovation communities from the High North.

"We see the enormous interest from those we have spoken to, so there is a clear demand from both participants and contributors. We have strong public data resources and startup environments - and now we are connecting the entire Arctic," says Storjord.

Practice, hackathon and open data

The program includes, among other things, a hackathon, workshops, AI exercises, cyber drills, a pitch competition and networking sessions.

The hackathon will be one of the festival's key elements. Here, the Brønnøysund Register Centre will make its datasets available and invite participants to rethink solutions from scratch.

"By bringing together the public sector, the business industry, and the Arctic community, ideas may emerge that we haven't thought of or had the capacity to develop ourselves. The hackathon is about seeing what we can achieve, and perhaps it will yild a greater potential benefit," Nerdal explains.

"People aren't just coming to listen, they are coming to work together on how we can accomplish more in the Arctic," Storjord adds.

So far, 35 participants have registered, and the organisers state that it is still possible to sign up. The goal is for the festival to eventually become an annual event.

"This will be a pilot year, so we will evaluate how it went afterwards. But the ambition is for this to become a permanent arena that people genuinly want to attend," says Nerdal.