Brussels, 9th October 2018
Winners of the Arctic Awards project competition were announced today in Scotland House, Brussels. The Arctic Awards 2018 is the second edition of the well received competition, which was launched on the 2nd May and closed on 10th June.
The award has been designed to highlight exceptional projects focusing on topics of particular relevance to the Arctic area. The competition was open to projects funded by the Northern Periphery & Arctic Programme, Interreg Botnia-Atlantica, Interreg Nord and Kolarctic CBC programmes, and for the first time the Karelia CBC programme. The competition is part of the Arctic Cooperation, a collaboration between the five EU cooperation programmes, coordinated by the Northern Periphery and Arctic Programme.
The projects that entered the competition have shown how innovative and inspirational they are, with an ability to demonstrate a clear and concrete Arctic dimension giving direct benefits to Arctic communities. We thank all projects for their contributions and congratulate the winners!
The Arctic Project Awards rotates its categories yearly. This year’s categories were:
- Arctic Entrepreneurial Spirit
- Cold Climate Opportunities
The Judging Panel was made up of representatives from the programmes Northern Periphery & Arctic, Interreg Botnia-Atlantic, and Interreg Nord.
The announcement of the 2018 category winners took place during the award ceremony planned following the European Week of Regions and Cities seminar “Sustainable development of the Arctic region to the benefit of all of Europe” on 9th October at 16.00 in Scotland House, Brussels, Belgium.
We are proud to announce that the winner of Category 1, “Arctic Entrepreneurial Spirit” is Rural Youth Entrepreneurship – RYE Connect (Northern Periphery and Arctic). www.ryeconnect.eu
The project demonstrates excellence in promoting innovative thinking that inspires young people to create unique business opportunities across Northern Europe and the Arctic. The RYE Connect project seeks to offer an expanded Rural Youth Entrepreneurship model which supports and inspires young entrepreneurs within the Northern Periphery and Arctic (NPA)region. Through transnational collaboration and networking, RYE Connect develops better business opportunities, services and solutions for young entrepreneurs aged 16 to 30.
RYE Connect contributes in a clear and visionary way to the Arctic Award main criteria: innovation, impact and focus. The project aims to bring together remote regions, and bridge the gap offering spirited business support tools innovating the youth to become one of the next generation of entrepreneurs. Young entrepreneurs from all four participating countries are able to connect to their future better and turn an idea into a reality. The project has shown that entrepreneurial spirit in the Arctic is thriving, and that better results can be achieved through cooperation.
Partners: Kajaani University of applied sciences (FI), The Advantage Foundation (NI), Northern Ireland Rural Development Council (NI), Greenland Business (GL).
We are proud to announce that the winner of Category 2, “Cold Climate Opportunities”, is WindCoE (Interreg Botnia-Atlantica), www.nordisktvindenergicenter.eu
The aim of the project is to establish a competence center within wind power in a cold climate. The center will address questions like handling ice accretion as well as analyzing noise and wind resources. With the developed competence center, it is possible to deal with wind energy issues in cold climates from a multidisciplinary perspective and work on these issues will facilitate the sustainable development of wind power in the Nordic countries.
The WindCoE project was implemented within the years 2015 to 2018 in the three BA countries and as a result, the continuation of the “Center of Expertise” has started. While much of the project content focused on research concerned with wind energy issues, the overarching goal was to create a long lasting center of excellence, bringing together industry, society and government to a platform where more constructive discussions regarding wind power could take place. By improving the conditions for this societal debate the project intends to improve the prospects for the development of the wind energy industry in the region.
Partners: Novia University of Applied Sciences (FI), Luleå University of Technology (SE), Umeå University (SE), University of Vaasa (FI), Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences (FI), University Consortium of Seinäjoki (FI), Norges arktiske universitet (NO)
More information:
Interreg Nord: Iiris Mäntyranta, iiris.mantyranta@lansstyrelsen.se, +46 (0) 10 2255376
Interreg Botnia-Atlantica: Jenny Bergkvist jenny.bergkvist@lansstyrelsen.se, +46 10-22 54 473
Northern Periphery and Arctic: Kirsti Mijnhijmer, kirsti.mijnhijmer@interreg-npa.eu, +45 3283 3786
Kolarctic CBC: Riikka Oittinen, riikka.oittinen@lapinliitto.fi, +358 40 660 1381
Karelia CBC: Marko Ruokangas, marko.ruokangas@kareliacbc.info, +358 40 060 2268