09:00 Ríma

Registration and coffee. The doors will be open from 09:00, so we welcome all participants to come "early" to meet other participants and to enjoy some coffee and morning food.

10:00 Ríma

Bogi Ágústsson, our moderator, will welcome all participants and give a brief introduction to this year's Nordregio Forum.

Wednesday, 27th of November

10:10 Ríma

The forum will be opened by Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson, Icelandic Minister for Transport and Local Governments as well as by Jonas Wendel, Chief of staff to the Secretary-General at the Nordic Council of Ministers.

Wednesday, 27th of November

10:40 Ríma

Smart Specialisation as a tool for Regional Resilience - key-note by Peter Berkowitz, Head of the Smart and Sustainable Growth Unit at DG Regio

Smart specialisation is an innovation policy concept that aims to boost regional innovation, contributing to growth and prosperity by helping and enabling regions to focus on their strengths. Peter Berkowitz, who is one of the European Commissions’s leading experts in the field, will give some useful insights on how remote regions can become more resilient by implementing the smart specialisation concept.

Wednesday, 27th of November

11:10 Ríma

The influence of local political leadership on regional development - key-note by Eva Marin Hlynsdottir, Associate Professor at University of Iceland

People matter. However, very often the science of regional development tends to forget the individual persons in favour of grand theories and loads of data. Eva Marin Hlynsdottir, an Icelandic associate professor in Public Policy and Governance, will give some concrete examples of how important good governance and powerful leadership are for the progress in a region.

Wednesday, 27th of November

11:40 Ríma

How to build and strengthen regional resilience - key-note by Jukka Teräs, Senior Research Fellow at Nordregio

Building regional resilience is vital in an interconnected global economy. Resilience thinking gives regions the possibility to anticipate and respond to unexpected events. Jukka Teräs, Senior Research Fellow at Nordregio and coordinator of the Nordic thematic group on  Innovative and Resilient Regions 2017-2020, opens up the concept of economic and social resilience with concrete examples of resilience approaches in Nordic regions.

Wednesday, 27th of November

12:10

Introduction to an ongoing trend analyses on the bioeconomy in the Baltics and the Arctic: Presentation of a survey by Mads Randbøll Wolff and Karen Refsgaard

Wednesday, 27th of November

12:20

Lunch

Wednesday, 27th of November

13:30 Ríma

Skills and Resilience in the Nordic Regions

Hear five experts on how they and their companies or regions are working with resilience and skills as well as three youth representatives giving their view on the matter. This session is open for questions from the audience and will be led by Bogi Ágústsson.

In the panel: Heidi Takalo, Chief Engineer at Micropolis Oy (FI), Hallgeir Sørnes CEO in Vardø municipality (NO), Henrik Børsting Aagaard, Head of Planning at Vejle municipality (DK), Helena Renström, Marketing Manager at Skellefteå municipality (SE), Bjørn Ingimarsson, Mayor in Fljótsdalshérað (IS), Ragnheiður Kristín Finnbogadóttir, Youth representative at the Nordic Council of Ministers' Expert Group on Sustainable Development (IS), Karítas Ríkharðsdóttir, (IS), and Pétur Halldórsson, Chair of the Icelandic Youth Environmentalist Association (IS).

Wednesday, 27th of November

15:00

Coffee and snacks

PARALLEL SESSIONS

Three sessions, three different rooms! See below for more details and remember to pick one when you register.

Wednesday, 27th of November

15:30 Ríma

The Right Skills?

Every region needs the right kind of skills to thrive and prosper. But what are the right skills? How can regions anticipate what skills are needed in the future and how can regions work with skills mismatch? This parallel session will depart from the key learnings from Nordregio’s work on Regional Economic and Social Resilience: An Exploratory In-Depth Study in the Nordic Countries. The ongoing work on Skills Policies – Building Capacities for Innovative and Resilient Nordic Regions will be used as the starting point for a dialogue on joint learning on how the Nordic countries and regions work with skills anticipation, skills mismatch, skills development and skills governance.

Wednesday, 27th of November

15:30 Stemma

What is Smart Specialisation – And how to maximise this policy tool?

Smart specialisation (S3) as a policy tool has quickly been adopted across the European Union and in Nordic countries. Although some Nordic regions have been able to apply the smart specialisation concept very effectively, the method for implementing S3 is not uniform across the Nordic Region.  This parallel session will discuss the added value of smart specialisation in the Nordic Region and hear about the experiences of regions in adopting S3 as a regional innovation policy tool.  Additionally, this parallel session will engage the audience in discussing the future of Nordic S3. development and skills governance.

Wednesday, 27th of November

15:30 Visa

Working with digitalisation: A journey not a destination

Digitalisation is transforming industries at a pace that may feel daunting at times. From the public sector to manufacturing and even tourism, technology is fundamentally changing the nature of our work in ways we are yet to fully understand. With so much uncertainty it is perhaps helpful to think of digitalisation as a journey – with our own digital skills developing along the way. In this interactive session, we will hear from Reykjavik Municipality about their digitalisation journey before working together to consider our own next steps in keeping pace with technological change. 

Wednesday, 27th of November

19:00

Conference dinner at Friðheimar, Reykholt

Friðheimar is a family run business where they grow tomatoes all year round in big hydroponic greenhouses, as well as run their own (tomato-based, of course!) restaurant, also in one of the greenhouses. The bus to Friðheimar will leave at 17.30 from Harpa.

Thursday, 28th of November

09:00 Ríma

Welcome to day two!

Our moderator, Bogi Ágústsson gives us a brief introduction to the day's programme.

Thursday, 28th of November

09:10 Ríma

Creating more value in the marine industries - key-note by Thor Sigfusson, Founder of the Iceland Ocean Cluster in Reykjavik

For people, in general, the most valuable piece of a cod is the fillet, but not for the entrepreneurs joined in Iceland Ocean Cluster. For them, a cod means much more than that. It represents the raw material for clothing, interior design or pharmaceutical products. Thor Sigfusson will tell us more about these and other creative initiatives, as well as how he got the idea of bringing these people with brave, new ideas together.

Thursday, 28th of November

09:40 Ríma

Sustainable Tourism - key-note by Guðrið Højgaard, Director at Visit Faroe Islands

As well as in Iceland tourism is boosting on the Faroe Islands. But is it possible to gain all the advantages of an expanding income from the tourism sector with resource efficiency and a preserved natural environment? Since Guðrið Højgaard returned to the Faroe Islands and took over as Director for Visit Faroe Islands in 2011 the number of overnight stays as well as the revenues have more than doubled. At Nordregio Forum she will tell how it has been possible to put Faroe Islands on the tourism world map and protect its vulnerable nature from overuse.

Thursday, 28th of November

10:10

Coffee and snacks

PARALLEL SESSIONS

Three sessions, three different rooms! See below for more details and remember to pick one when you register.

17 Sustainability goals – How can regions reach global goals?

Nordic Council of Ministers is committed to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals created by UN General Assembly (SDGs) in 2015. But Nordic municipalities are the key players when it comes to making these 17 goals happen since they are the public administration that works closest to the people, local businesses and civil society organisations. This parallel session will showcase 27 Nordic municipalities that are “first movers” in working with the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs. What are their priorities and activities, challenges and success factors in working with the SDGs? You are welcome to exchange experiences with others and discuss solutions for joint challenges.

How to find opportunities through entrepreneurship

What role does entrepreneurship and innovation play when creating regional resilience? This parallel session will discuss the need to discover opportunities within biotechnology and other advanced life science methodologies in order to increase the competitiveness of regions and how to ensure that it will contribute to the inclusive economic development. And the key question remains to be discussed: do competence matching and skill development go hand in hand with ambitious plans?

Future in tourism – How to grow in harmony with industry and environment?

Most remote areas are shrinking by both population and economic opportunities, and therefore growing tourism has been a welcomed phenomenon and, in many places useful for regional development. Tourism is the key industry for the future but securing its development in a sustainable way, finding a balance between economic development and environmental strain is vital. This parallel session will focus on how to grow in harmony with the tourism industry and local communities and their policy-makers and other stakeholders while considering the environmental impact and securing a more even spread of tourists around the regions. It is a common challenge for all the Nordic regions.

Concluding remarks

Lunch

Excursion

14.00 Excursion to Kadeco – The company core project is to lead the development of a state-owned land and buildings in the former Military base next to Keflavík Airport. A variety of projects have been developed to increase the value of the area.

15:15 Visit to Algalíf – A indoor production process to grow high-quality, sustainable astaxanthin from algae using pure Icelandic water and renewable energy.

We will depart from Harpa at 13.00 by bus. The same bus will be taking us to both destinations as well as to Keflavik airport after the visits and then back to Reykjavik for those wishing to go back to the city centre afterwards.