The NORDUnet Community Workshop (NCW) is the continuation of the successful NORDUnet Technical Workshop (NTW). The goal of the workshop remains unchanged – to give Nordic NREN communities an opportunity to meet, share, and collaborate – and to do so in an environment that offers both old-timers and newcomers an opportunity to join forces, stimulate innovation, and allow exploration of ideas.

In line with the original format, the NORDUnet Community Workshop is a self-organising event created by the participating communities. With the NCW, we amplify the focus on communties and broaden the scope to include not just technical issues, but also all the features surrounding the core technical elements. NORDUnet facilitate the event by managing the logistics, procuring a physical venue, organize the social events, and by engaging with the communities to understand their needs and wishes.

The format of the event is straightforward: a three-day event with a number of parallel workshop tracks. Within these tracks you will find topical workshops created by participants and experts in the field. Actual workshop set-ups are up to the community organisers: it may include presentations, it may offer free-form discussion, it may focus on hands-on collaborative work. Likewise, a topical workshop may consist of a single 90-min session in a track, or it may incorporate a number of sessions. The crux is to bring practitioners of the community together and address the most pressing questions, ideas, opportunities, and challenges.

Yet, there there is more: the NCW is also a social event. The venue is selected to support easy interaction between participants across fields of interests, the programme offers Lightning Talks for easy sharing of news and views, and of course joint breaks and lunches. The informal reception where everybody mingles over a quick drink, and the dinner that see discussions continue and new ideas come into being also form important parts of the experience.

The NCW is designed to fill the gap between NORDUnet conferences. It takes place mid-September, in odd calendar years. The 2023 edition of the community workshop will be held in Copenhagen, between 9th and 11th of September.