It gives me great pleasure to present NORA’s annual report for 2023. My first year as director has been exciting and eventful, and we made significant progress in our efforts to strengthen co-operation and sustainability in the North Atlantic. As always, NORA’s focus has been on supporting innovative projects, promoting innovation and economic development and strengthening relationships throughout the region..
One of the highlights of the year was our hugely successful Unesco conference. Held in Sisimiut, Greenland, the conference brought together experts, decision-makers and stakeholders from across the NORA area, as well as the wider Nordic region and its neighbours to the west, to discuss and promote sustainable and place-based solutions. The conference focused on using Unesco designations to catalyse sustainable development in the Arctic, and it resulted in specific recommendations and partnerships that we are convinced will have a long-lasting impact on the region.
In 2023, we also signed a memorandum of understanding with the Orkney Island Council. The agreement is an important milestone in our efforts to strengthen ties between the NORA area and the Orkney Islands, and to promote the exchange of knowledge and resources and the development of joint projects. We are looking forward to seeing this collaboration bear fruit, and we will continue to prioritise our relationship with our friends in Scotland and the United Kingdom’s North Atlantic islands.
Our presence at the Arctic Circle Assembly in Reykjavík provided us with a window to promote ourselves, and the exhibition we produced in 2021 to highlight NORA’s success stories again showed its value. The exhibition was an important platform for presenting our work and the results NORA-funded projects have achieved, as well as for creating new partnerships. The exhibition itself received a lot of praise for the good impression it made on the more than 2,000 conference attendees.
In 2023, NORA provided funding to a wide range of projects, all of which contribute to our overarching goal of creating a dynamic and sustainable North Atlantic region, in line with the Nordic Council of Ministers’ Vision 2030. The 22 projects we funded in 2023 covered a wide range of topics. Most, however, fell within our focus areas: maritime resources, tourism, digital innovation and youth development, In all, we made 5.271 million Danish kroner in grants.
We firmly believe that our collective efforts will continue to have an impact. We remain committed to working closely with our partners to tackle the common challenges we face and create a future that is both sustainable and dynamic for the people of the North Atlantic.
In 2021, NORA celebrated its 25th anniversary with an exhibition at the North Atlantic House in Copenhagen. The exhibition showcased examples of many of the projects that NORA had supported over the years. In the 2023 edition of the Annual Report, we highlight two of these projects. A more sustainable shrimp fishery was the goal of the project "Efficient Shrimp Sorting" which NORA supported in 2006. VR, or virtual reality, was the focus of the project "GeoVirtual Reality" which NORA supported from 2016 to 2018. The focus was to communicate the geology of the NORA countries, where one could explore the differences and similarities between the countries. With VR technology, one could travel across the region and, most notably, back in time to experience how it all began.
One of NORA’s core activities is to make grants to cooperation projects that seek to further socio-economic development in the North Atlantic region. NORA supports organisations and firms that contribute to innovation, concept development and increased activity in the region.
All of the projects that receive NORA funding make a contribution to addressing the issues facing the region and are relevant to NORA’s main objective: to create a strong and dynamic North Atlantic that is notable for its healthy and sustainable economies. As the North Atlantic connects NORA’s constituents, many of the projects receiving funding naturally deal with maritime resources. Other NORA-funded projects contribute to creating and developing new directions and opportunities. In 2023, NORA-funded projects dealt with maritime activities, sustainable tourism, IT, transport, youth and agriculture.
NORA funded 22 projects in 2023.
NORA’s project portfolio currently includes 36 projects. Some projects recently received funding; others are close to completion.
For at sikre, at arbejdsmuligheder er i lokalmiljøet og at traditionel viden bevares, vil tre museer opbygge et netværk, der skal sikre samarbejdet mellem organisationerne og dermed sikre, at traditionel viden om håndværk og andet bevares og gives videre til unge. Det konkrete i projektet er, at en eller to unge kommer i arbejde eller skoleophold i forbindelse med de tre museer – et forløb af et års varighed. De konkrete aktiviteter tager udgangspunkt i behovet hos de deltagende institutioner, og strækker sig fra at arbejde med isolering af gamle vikingehuse til at nyopføre husene i bygden, der forventeligt skal opføres i Skotland. Opholdet vil give de unge gode kvalifikationer til at deltage i andre turistaktiviteter i regionen.
NORA-støtte 2023 DKK 500.000
Med udgangspunkt i stedsspecifikke miljøprojekter, der ledes af lokal ungdom, ønsker projektet at skabe forståelse for klimaændringer og indblik i de konsekvenser, som disse medfører. Konkret skal de deltagende unge monitorere arktiske arter, og dermed på den ene side bidrage til videnskaben og på den anden side være med til at udvikle uddannelsesmateriale til skoler og ungdomsgrupper.
NORA-støtte 2023 DKK 500.000
The project is a pilot project that seeks to establish a partnership involving at least two Unesco-designated areas (such as geoparks) in the NORA area that can study whether electric-powered boats are suitable for use in the North Atlantic climate, as well as the range such boats have. A proposed follow-on project would look into various types of propulsion and how environmentally friendly technologies could be incorporated.
NORA funding in 2023: 60,000
Maritime industries lag somewhat in the green transition, but they can make up quickly by converting small boats that often are used for sightseeing. The project seeks to compile a thorough overview of the supply of electric boats in the region and the direction of development. The overview will also detail the usability of electric boats for the tourism industry. The findings will be useful for boat suppliers, as well as the firms that are interested in using electric boats. An additional element of the project that will benefit the green transition is its goal of creating a knowledge bank of information about how electric boats can use solar power.
NORA funding in 2023: DKK 200,000
Angel investors are a rarity in the rural parts of the NORA area. The project will encourage potential investors to get involved in firms at an early stage in the hopes that they will eventually generate the types of jobs that can attract new residents. The goal of the project is to establish a network of private investors who can help to close the funding deficit in the North Atlantic.
NORA funding in 2023 DKK 474.375
The Nordic Council of Ministers is obliged to live up to the Nordic prime ministers’ vision for the Nordic region by 2030. Investments in three strategic areas will contribute to the Nordic region becoming the world’s most sustainable and integrated region by 2030.
To achieve the vision, the Nordic Council of Ministers is investing in:
As part of the efforts to achieve Vision 2030, NORA has been included in the regional policy initiatives and is focusing on five of the 12 objectives that the ministers for Nordic co-operation have identified.
NORA’s tasks primarily consist of the following:
No decisions may be made prior to reviews and negotiations. The principle of consensus should be applied in negotiations whenever possible. For decisions of principle to be approved, none of the delegations may oppose the decision.
Niklas Bak Hansen
Committee Member and Member of the Working Group
Karin Pedersen Thorsen
Committee Member
Sarah Woodall
Committee Member
Stig Olsen
Committee Leader 2024 and Member of the Working Group
Lena Merete Søderholm
Committee Member
Lisbeth Nylund
Committee Member
Kristján Þ. Halldórsson
Committee Leader 2023 and Member of the Working Group,
Ásborg Ósk Arnþórsdóttir
Committee Member
Frosti Gíslason
Committee Member
Jákup Mørkøre
Committee Member and Member of the Working Group
Alex N. Vilhelm
Committee Member
Súsanna E. Sørensen
Committee Member
