This week in Helsingborg, key stakeholders and project partners in the PolarConnect initiative came together for a focused two-day workshop, generously hosted by the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat. Participants included representatives from NORDUnet, SUNET, DeiC, GlobalConnect, DTU – Technical University of Denmark, and the European Commission’s European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA) —gathering a broad range of expertise and perspectives around a shared vision of Arctic connectivity. The workshop brought together the teams driving the North Pole Fiber and Polar Connect Step 1 projects, creating a space for deeper coordination and collaboration.
The first day entered on internal knowledge building—an opportunity to share experiences and align goals, tasks, and strategies across the different strands of the Polar Connect initiative. Day two featured detailed updates on both projects, a presentation of Arctic infrastructure and capabilities from the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat, and forward-looking discussions on the 2025 summer seabed survey campaign—an essential step for the continued development of Arctic sub-sea connectivity.
The event concluded with a visit to the Swedish icebreaker Oden, which will play a key role in this summer’s seabed survey work. An essential resource for scientific and logistical capability in the far north, Oden will be instrumental for the next phase of translating polar connect vision into reality. Sincere thanks to all participants for contributing their insight, expertise, and commitment to advancing the Polar Connect initiative, to our hosts for putting both this and the high level event elegantly together, to Martin Jakobsson from Stockholm University and his team from the Seabed 2030 project for an exciting demonstration, and to Captain Mattias Petersson and his crew on Oden for a memorable and highly informative tour of their impressive vessel.
