Nordic Bridge

Nordic Bridge connects students with real-world challenges from communities and businesses across Northern Europe.

About the project

Nordic Bridge is a project that helps connect students and researchers with businesses, communities, and public organizations in places like Norway, Iceland, Ireland, and Finland. The idea is to let real organizations share real-world challenges on a digital platform, so students can work on them as part of their studies—like through internships or school projects. This helps solve local problems while giving students valuable experience, and it encourages cooperation across countries in the northern part of Europe.

Main target groups

The Nordic Bridge project is interesting for anyone involved in regional development, education, or innovation—especially in Northern Europe. Here are some of the key shareholders:

Educational Institutions (Universities and Colleges)
They benefit by giving students real-world projects to work on, improving learning outcomes and making education more relevant.
Public and Private Sector Organizations
These include municipalities, companies, and NGOs. They get fresh ideas and support from students and researchers to tackle real challenges in their communities or industries.
Students and Young Professionals
They gain hands-on experience, networking opportunities, and a chance to contribute to meaningful projects that can improve local areas and boost their careers.
Other shareholders
Society at large benefits from the innovations and sustainable development projects that emerge from this collaborative platform.

Nordic Bridge brings together a consortium of 24 partners from Norway, Iceland, Finland, and Ireland. The partnership spans the full quadruple helix—academia, municipalities and counties, business clusters and private companies, innovation and entrepreneurship organizations, student unions, and non-profit actors.

Together, these partners are going to be actively engaged in the co-design, testing, and prototyping of the digital matchmaking portal, ensuring it truly bridges academia and society. By combining expertise and insights across sectors and regions, the Nordic Bridge portal will serve as a practical, challenge-driven tool for innovation helping to address real societal needs and unlock new opportunities for regional growth.

Main partners
- Nord University (Norway) – Lead partner coordinating the project.
- Hólar University (Iceland)
- Lapland University of Applied Sciences (Finland)
- Atlantic Technological University (Ireland)
- Bodø Business Forum (Norway)
- Association of Municipalities in Northeast Iceland (Iceland)
- AIM Centre (Sligo Leitrim ITS Regional Development Projects DAC) (Ireland)
Associated partners
- NCE Aquaculture (Norway)
- Northeast Iceland Development Fund (Iceland)
- Bodø Municipality (Norway)
- University of Oulu (Finland)
- Western Development Commission (Ireland)
- Marine Ecological Solutions (Iceland)
- Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Norway)
- Municipality of Sotenäs (Sweden)
- Vonin Ltd (Faroe Islands)
- Keep Sweden Tidy (Sweden)
- Laitakari Fish Ltd (Finland)
- Arctic Technology Center (Greenland)
- Norwegian Plastics Recycling Company (Norway)
- Inter-municipal political council for Lofoten (Norway)
- Narvik Sustainable Technologies AS (Norway)
- Cork County Council (Ireland)
- Secure and Fix It Enterprises T/A NCE Insulation (Ireland)
Read more about our partners on the project website
Preparatory project

In 2023, the Interreg NPA programme supported our one-year preparatory project to lay the groundwork for a larger initiative aimed at addressing the Northern Periphery and Arctic (NPA) region's challenges. This preparatory project phase focused on three key objectives:
- Stakeholder engagement: Connecting with universities, businesses, public sectors, and communities to understand their challenges and opportunities.
- Feasibility assessment: Evaluating the viability of project ideas through advanced portals and stakeholder feedback.
- Main project planning: Crafting a detailed plan for the main project that targets the NPA region's specific needs and opportunities.
This preparatory work was crucial for ensuring that the main project is well-informed and strategically positioned to tackle the challenges and foster innovation and sustainable development.

By engaging stakeholders, assessing feasibility, and planning meticulously, this initiative set a solid foundation for successfully tackling the NPA region's unique challenges.

The preparatory project total budget was 99.546 EUR. The total project funding was 57,789 EUR and ERDF support was 13,975 EUR.

Main project

The main project aims to create a problem-solution matchmaking collaboration portal, designed to catalyze growth and foster collaboration across the Northern Periphery and Arctic (NPA) region.

At the heart of this initiative is the development of a state-of-the-art digital platform. This platform will serve as a central hub, connecting stakeholders from various sectors across the NPA area, facilitating meaningful exchanges, and driving regional development through innovative collaborations.

The portal creates a space where everyone can easily see how they might contribute. It's all about making connections and discovering how each person can use their skills and knowledge to make a real difference in the NPA region.
The Nordic Bridge project aims to address the intertwined challenges and opportunities within the Northern Periphery and Arctic (NPA) communities. These challenges include a noticeable gap in practical engagement between academia and society, the untapped potential within both sectors, and the persistent problem of brain drain, where talent moves away in search of better opportunities.

Nordic Bridge will serve as a catalyst for impactful and meaningful collaboration. By fostering interactions among academia, industry, and society, the portal seeks to deliver dual benefits: providing industries with innovative solutions and empowering academic institutions to undertake research that has direct implications for real-world challenges.

This approach aims to establish a symbiotic relationship, where both academia and industry can thrive, leveraging each other's strengths to address the needs and challenges of the NPA region effectively.

The Nordic Bridge project is funded by Interreg.
The Nordic Bridge project is structured over 36 months and consists of three interconnected work packages designed to address the regional challenge of improving collaboration between academia and society through a digital matchmaking portal. The project uses a Quadruple Helix Model, involving academia, public authorities, the private sector, and the community.

Read more about the action plan and work packages on the project website.
The Nordic Bridge project is set to generate a diverse array of outcomes and impacts, aimed at fostering collaboration and innovation across the NPA. The project's envisioned outputs include the facilitation of joint thesis projects, internships, and PhD research initiatives, alongside research and development applications. These academic and practical engagements are designed to open up potential employment opportunities for students, directly linking academic efforts with the job market.

A significant aspect of the project is its regional focus, which presents a unique opportunity for cross-border academic cooperation among students and student groups from Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Faroe Island, Greenland, and Norway. This collaborative environment is expected to encourage the tackling of regionally relevant issues, promoting a sense of unity and shared purpose across the NPA.

By providing a platform where participants can propose innovative solutions, the project aims to drive growth initiatives, catalyzing the development of research and development projects that are not only academically significant but also have practical applications. The impact of these activities is anticipated to be substantial, contributing to the overall development of the region by leveraging its academic potential to address real-world challenges, thereby enhancing the quality of life and economic prosperity in the NPA Region.