Thematic Network on Smart Societies in the High North (SmartNorth)

Goals

The idea of the TN is to unite the efforts of the academic personnel from universities and research institutions as well as representatives from public sector institutions and businesses in the High North who share an interest in the concept of smart societies. To promote the TN outside the Arctic region, the project intends to include an international group of researchers in the field of Smart governance, technology, management, innovations and public administration to contribute to the development of the TN.

In the long run, the TN is to develop, promote and disseminate knowledge in potentially thematic areas that are relevant to Smart Cities and Societies in the High North, e.g. Human and Investment Attractiveness, Clusters of Innovations, Participatory Governance, Financial, Social and Environmental Sustainability, Performance Management, Energy and IT Technologies, Risk Management, Digital Literacy and/or the Role of Indigenous peoples.

That the thematic network is not only formally established but also receives circumpolar attention from both academics and practitioners. Because the Thematic Network will aim to develop, promote and disseminate knowledge related to Smart Societies in the High North.

Activities

Because the Thematic Network will aim to develop, promote and disseminate knowledge related to Smart Societies in the High North, we will establish a foundation for TN activities by

  • Learning from existing experience by talking to academics and practitioners who are involved in such projects internationally and in the circumpolar area, establish a dialogue arena.
  • Evaluating of the demand for new educational programs, courses and/or short workshops (by making surveys and roundtable discussion/focus group interviews with practitioners/users in each country).
  • Analyzing the potential sources of funding for joint research, education and development projects both internationally and in each partner country related to Smart Societies in the High North.
  • Work with a TN strategy statement highlighting what should be the focus areas/priorities of the TN on a short and long term – both in terms of development, research and educational programs. We will also
  • Promote academic interest to the topic of Smart Cities and Smart Societies in the High North by open seminars and webinars in order to recruit a wide number of relevant institutional participants.
  • Exploring opportunities to establish specific stakeholder dialogue arenas e.g. in relation to the High North Dialogue annual conference in Bodø.
  • Autumn 2020-2022 - development and launch of a joint online course “Smart societies in the High North” supported by the UArctic. Find more information here
  • Thematic network online meeting in November 2020 to discuss the development of the joint online course on smart societies in the High North Publication of the special issue on “Accounting for sustainable and smart cities” in the Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting and Financial Management (JPBAFM)
  • Thematic Network session at the UActic Congress in May 2021 (more information is coming)
  • Spring 2020 - Submission of a research application to national/international research/development funding with TN participants as partners
  • 15 January 2020 – Opening seminar for international students “Value creation in the High North” at the Nord University Business School where TN Lead Professor Anatoli Bourmistrov talked about Smart Societies development in the High North and Stephan Andre Skjelvan (Director, Department of business, development and agriculture, Bodø municipality) introduced The Smart Bodø program with the focus on Opportunities for the sustainable and smart city in the High North
  • 16-17 January 2020 – Meeting arranged with new TN members from Luleå University of Technology (Sweden), Architecture Group represented by David Chapman and Agneta Larsson specialized in spatial planning in winter cities and with The Technical University of Denmark, Arctic Technology Centre represented by Kåre Hendriksen who teaches at the Arctic Engineering education in Sisimiut, Greenland, and his research focuses on development of dynamics in Arctic and primary Greenlandic communities with focus on island operations, including the link between social infrastructure and business development. Potential ways for cooperation were discussed, see social media post here as well as meeting photo
  • 14-15 October 2019 – SmartNorth project Research Seminar and International conference “Opportunities and Challenges for Smart Development of the High North: Regional and Municipal Governance, Business and People” where several TN members took part and presented their work (Nord University: Anatoli Bourmistrov, Nadezda Nazarova, Andreas Raspotnik; Tyumen State University: Irina Liman; University of Alaska Anchorage: Professor Heather Hudson), attached are the conference photos 1, 2, and 3
  • Spring 2019 – visiting scholar: Dr. Sari Hirvonen Hirvonen-Kantola from Oulu School of Architecture, Urban Design and Planning (https://www.oulu.fi/university/researcher/sari-hirvonen-kantola) was on the research stay at the High North Centre for Business and Governance, Nord University.
  • 1-5 April 2019 – TN meeting in Bodø during the High North Dialogue 2019 week
  • January 2019 - TN kick-off webinar
  • Establishment of the reference group in TN SmartNorth

Publications

Scite Dashboard

UArctic partners with Scite to provide bibliometric dashboards for our Thematic Networks.

Other Information

Nadezda Nazarova, Vice-Lead of the UArctic Thematic Network on Smart Societies in the High North (SmartNorth)