Generation North Atlantic was a youth conference held in Bodø and Lofoten from September 16–19, 2024. GNA was organized as a pre-event specifically tailored to young people from the NORA region, ahead of the Generation Barents conference — a similar youth event gathering youth from across the Nordic countries. The conference brought together 20 young participants from the NORA region with the goal of creating a platform to strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the region, build networks, and gain insight into shared regional issues.

In collaboration with Nordland County Council, NORA was responsible for the planning and implementation of the event, with a focus on the region’s future, youth engagement, and sustainable development.

During the conference, participants were introduced to various industries and businesses around Bodø and Lofoten through presentations, lectures, and workshops. In addition to hearing from Nord University about their various cooperation programs, the participants visited local entrepreneurs who have successfully leveraged the region’s unique characteristics — including local businesses such as the patisserie Craig Alibone in Bodø, glass artist Mette Paalgard, and the creative hub Trevarefabrikken in Henningsvær, Lofoten.

They also visited institutions such as the Lofoten Aquarium and Lofotr Viking Museum, which further highlighted the shared cultural and historical connections between participants.

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The conference was praised by attendees as a unique arena where youth from the region could discuss questions and challenges with peers facing similar circumstances. The opportunity to connect and build networks across the region was a highlight for all participants. One part that stood out in particular was the interactive workshop held onboard the coastal ferry between Bodø and Lofoten.

In the workshop, participants divided into groups based on what they identified as key challenges in their respective regions. Each group then developed a project idea and drafted a fictional grant application to NORA. The ideas showcased a broad range of challenges and opportunities from across the region, and the winning concept was a social media campaign that highlighted positive narratives about life in small towns and rural communities.

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Stig Heggli Kleftår from Mo i Rana, Norway, shared his experience from the event:

I thought it was absolutely magical to connect with people across the northern regions. I realized we have so much in common, and we should collaborate more with smaller towns and communities in places like Iceland, the Faroe Islands, and Greenland. My hometown might even have more in common with those areas than with the major cities like Oslo, Bergen, or Trondheim. I’m taking the energy and knowledge from this experience back into my work and civic involvement — and, more broadly, as a citizen of the North. It was cultural exchange, insight, and experiences I wouldn’t want to be without!

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Now in its second year, the NORA-funded ICE Arctic Youth Community (ICEAYC) project is a dynamic, three-year initiative led by Sør-Varanger Utvikling / ICE Kirkenes. With over 50 applicants from the NORA area - including Greenland for the first time in 2024 - the project connects entrepreneurial talents across borders. It opens doors to new opportunities through an agile, event-driven approach.

For most applicants, meeting other members was a strong motivator, as were the community events and the learning opportunities the project offered, including the ICE Innovation Festival, Tonik, Roaming Reddingakaffi, Iceland Innovation Week, Slush and the Arctic Circular Economy Summit.

The programme places a heavy emphasis on putting participants in contact with investors. This is much to the benefit of participants: more than half have already started a business,while the rest are either in the process of validating an idea or are considering trying to commercialise one. In addition to meeting peers, participants also engage with a wide network of mentors, investors and other professionals.

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Noteworthy outcomes include the establishment of the Finest Faroese Fund, the expansion of Greenlandic firm Pajussi into Northern Norway as a collaboration among young Greenlandic and Norwegian entrepreneurs, and the selection of Marine Spark X of Norway as the winner of the 2025 High North Young Entrepreneur Award. The project also catalysed the launch of the Arctic Circular Economy Summit (ACES) in September 2024.

Originally aiming for 100 participants, ACES ended up attracting 127 people to the event in Kirkenes, Norway. Additionally, some 60 people visited the event’s pop-up second-hand shop. The strong turnout by ICEAYC members and industry experts, as well as the generally enthusiastic reception, underscored the widespread supportfor this much-needed concept. Promoting circular transition while involving youth has been an strategic focus for NORA,and, in support of this, it will be the general partnerfor ACES 2025. The hope is that 2025 edition will attract 200 participants from across the Nordic-Arctic region. ICEAYC will also have one of its meeting points during ACES 2025.

As the project nears its third and final year, the ICE Arctic Youth Community continues to explore new frontiers, aiming to foster concrete outcomes, long-term partnerships and connections that stretch beyond the NORA-area. And, most importantly, to continue to lay the foundation for a strong and growing community of young people.

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15-19 April, Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland

In April, 10 young people from the Faroe Islands, Greenland, Iceland and Norway gathered in Vestmannaeyjar for the North Atlantic Youth Blue Innovation Camp. For five intense days, the local fab lab was an epicentre of young creativity and innovation. The event, for young people from the NORA area between the ages of 18 and 30, focused on exploring new ideas and solutions for the blue economy.

While in Vestmannaeyjar, participants visited a number of maritime-related businesses, where they saw first-hand the challenges and opportunities facing small coastal communities, resulting in a deeper understanding of the complexity of the local blue economy.

As part of the North Atlantic Youth Blue Innovation Camp, participants were presented with scenarios that asked them to address critical issues related to the blue economy. They were divided into two groups, and each was given a topic to work on:

- Sustainable ocean food and sustainable new ocean industries

- Coastal resilience, social innovation and local communities

The first group came up with a project titled Atlantic Ocean Bloom, which proposed collecting and processing waste from fish farms to create a product that could be used to improve the environment in more nutrient-poor marine areas. The other group came up with Coast Care, an app that aims to inspire beach clean-ups using a range of motivational schemes and rewards.

The guiding idea for the event was the methodology behind distributed design, a collaborative approach to complex challenges in which each participant contributes to the solution. All participants actively contributed, engaging in dynamic discussions and practical workshops where ideas were stress-tested and adjusted based on the outcomes. Their work clearly showed that their visits to firms in Vestmannaeyjar had made an impression, and that they had taken their mentors’ advice into consideration. The high quality of the projects makes it likely they can be taken further.

Participants came away from the innovation camp first and foremost with new skills, but they also established a close network and valuable friendships that span geographical and cultural boundaries. The experience from the event underscored for them that the challenges facing coastal communities are global and cannot be solved in isolation—and that we are all responsible for making the blue economy thrive.

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Fab Lab Vestmannaeyar

Established in 2008 as Iceland’s first Fab Lab.

A Fab Lab (short for fabrication laboratory) is a high-tech workshop equipped with 3D printers, laser cutters, CNC machines and other computerised tools. The idea is to offer a space where people can design, create prototypes and manufacture a wide range of innovative and personal creations.

Fab Lab Vestmannaeyjar runs educational programmes for primary and secondary schools, and it is involved in social-innovation and development projects related to the blue economy. Fab Lab Vestmannaeyjar is an active member of the Fab Lab Iceland Network, the Nordic Fab Lab Network and the global Fab Lab Network.

Read more about the North Atlantic Youth Blue Innovation Camp here.

(Photos: Frosti Gíslason / Fab Lab Vestmannaeyar. Photos may not be used or shared without the express consent of NORA. If you are interested in using the photos, please contact us.)

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Created with the help of AI, this podcast captures the experience and insights from the innovation lab in Vestmannaeyjar.

30 September-4 October, Québec

The second international Sisimiut conference was held in Québec, from 30 September to 4 October as a follow-up to a NORA initiative that began in Sisimiut, Greenland, in 2023. The initial conference led to the establishment of a North Atlantic network of Unesco World Heritage Sites, biospheres, geoparks and national institutions that has since shown itself to be a solid platform for collaborating on topics related to sustainability, cultural heritage and tourism in the North Atlantic and Arctic.

Organised in collaboration with the Manicouagan-Uapishka Biosphere Reserve, Sisimiut II brought together 60 participants from a dozen countries, including cabinet members, policy makers and Unesco site managers. Among those attending was Québec’s minister of natural resources and Nordic cooperation, Maïté Blanchette Vézina, who echoed the sentiment of many of the participants in expressing a desire for closer cooperation among NORA and other stakeholders in the North Atlantic.

The formal part of the conference, held in Québec City, included plenary presentations, panel debates and workshops. The thematic workshops allowed participants to work intensively on individual topics. One of them, a joint roadmap for cooperation up to 2030, laid the foundation for several projects, including an artist-residency programme, a network for citizen-science research initiatives and a Unesco-supported “voluntourism” programme. Local initiatives, sustainable tourism, indigenous perspectives and partnerships with authorities emerged as recurring themes in the discussions.

The second part took place in the town of Baie-Comeau and featured workshops and field visits to the Uapishka Research Station and in the wider Uapishka region that gave participants insights into local sustainability initiatives and cultural heritage in practice. Participants also met with people living near the reserve. The conference confirmed the strength of the Sisimiut network and sought to enhance its relevance by drawing up plans for its strategic development and a revised structure ahead of a Sisimiut III.

With the Sisimiut initiative and this second conference, NORA has made a significant contribution to promoting cooperation, knowledge-sharing and development among Unesco stakeholders in the North Atlantic. The network has become a driving force for concrete sustainability initiatives and partnerships, and it will continue - now independent of NORA’s direction - to build on the foundation laid in Sisimiut and Québec.

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