ICT as driver of development in the Arctic – NORA launches online conference

25.11.14 | News
Grønland
Photographer
Nikolaj Bock
How can ICT help strengthen the economy and improve public services in the North Atlantic part of the Nordic Region? This is the basic question behind digitalarctic.com – the online conference launched by Nordic Atlantic Co-operation (NORA).

Distance represents a major challenge for NORA. The conference is one outcome of the 2011 OECD Territorial Review of the NORA Region, which noted that “ICT can play an important role in improving the efficiency of public-service delivery in sparsely populated and remote areas. The Internet can also promote better business opportunities and help rural firms to penetrate distant markets.”

The conference aims to illustrate the kind of opportunities that digital communication affords to companies, the public sector and the general population in the region, as well as the technical challenges associated with telecommunications. Digital Arctic looks at themes such as “born globals” and “micromultinationals”, distance learning, telemedicine, project implementation and infrastructure development.

The conference will analyse the status quo, visions and challenges, via contributions from prominent academics, businesses, official agencies and entrepreneurs from both the NORA region and our Arctic neighbours to the west.

Completely digital

In keeping with the theme, the conference is 100% digital – all presentations are made via video. NORA has also produced several mini-documentaries highlighting success stories, including how to make a living building airports while residing in a small coastal community in the Faroe Islands, or how one man’s technological needs created a world-leading company based in a small fjord town in the west of Norway.

Digital Arctic invites you to watch, comment on and discuss the videos whenever it suits you – and without incurring a registration fee or travel expenses. NORA hopes that this will showcase the advantages of digitisation, even for conferences.

The first round of contributions have already been uploaded to the website. More will be added later. Follow NORA on twitter, and keep up to date with news from #DigitalArctic.

After Digital Arctic

NORA wants to see more ICT projects in 2015. Hopefully, the conference will serve as a catalyst for initiatives and innovation among the companies, people and public bodies of the region.

NORA provides funding for projects, travel expenses for project development and help identifying potential project partners in the region. See the DO IT session on the conference website for more details.