All R&E sectors are facing a data explosion, which means a rapidly increasing demand for efficient data infrastructures. Likewise the global lockdowns and remote education once more demonstrated the significance of digital infrastructures. In addition to addressing the increased capacity needs of existing intercontinental collaborations, Polar Connect will spur new innovative collaboration models and support the rapid ongoing digital transformation.
The Arctic Ocean is unexplored territory for intercontinental subsea cables, yet it offers dramatic advantages for Europe, Asia and North America through a direct route and a much shorter connection, bringing digital autonomy, optimal connections between world–leading, green data centres, and an opportunity for economic growth to the Nordic countries.
NORDUnet and the Nordic NRENs are looking into a number of initiatives to investigate and planning the first submarine cable system between Europe, Asia, and North America to secure a shorter route through the Arctic Ocean. An area so far without any submarine cable systems, yet offering this unique route that will dramatically increase resilience of the connectivity.
Two different specific solutions are being investigated. A direct route passing under the ice cap of the North Pole in the Arctic Ocean, just North-East of Greenland. And an alternative route through the North-West Passage between Greenland and Canada. A submarine cable system passing close to the North Pole via Exclusive Economic Zones would be shorter and thereby minimize latency, however, also more complex in terms of technology and thereby somewhat further into the future. We call this Vision 2030.
Major European involvement in these initiatives will substantially strengthen European digital autonomy. By being early partners in such initiatives, we aim to secure capacity owned and managed by the research and education communities, adding huge benefits in terms of cost, bandwidth and latency. The ultimate goal of Polar Connect is to have at least two such routes for increased resilience.
Europe should not become an island in the digital ocean. Implementing the vision of the European Data Gateways Declaration means taking control of Europe’s digital destiny. The Northern European Digital Gateway is a cornerstone in securing Europe’s digital autonomy and sovereignty, as it promotes new and redundant paths towards Asia and North America through the Arctic area.
Polar Connect will be a strategic investment into fundamental digital infrastructure that will support and advance regional development of the Nordics and Northern Europe. Additionally, it will connect all of the European R&E networks and thus support European Research, Development, Innovation and Education sectors, as well as it will contribute to European post-COVID-19 economic recovery.
The report The Economic Value of Submarine Cables in the Arctic from Copenhagen Economics highlights the benefits of submarine cable systems through the Arctic region; Such systems will bring resilience, mitigate digital congestion, improve sustainability, and induce more than 1 billion EUR worth of economic benefits to the Nordic region.
The report looks into the societal and economic dividends from such investments which could be large. The report was commissioned by NORDUnet and the five Nordic national research and education networks (NRENs).
Close to 90 % of Europe’s Internet traffic takes place through the connections which link London, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, and Paris. Alternative routes are badly needed to prevent congestion, reduce latency, and increase resilience, not least since the world’s total Internet traffic continues to double every three years. Notably, an increasing amount of the traffic is intercontinental, for instance between Europe and Asia.
Besides greatly enhanced digital resilience, a further advantage is improved sustainability. The Nordic countries hold ample renewable energy resources. Examples are hydro power (Norway, Sweden, Finland), wind power (Denmark, Sweden, Norway), geothermal power (Iceland), and tidal/wave power (Norway and others).
The demand for renewable low-carbon energy is constantly growing in Europe. It will always be cheaper and more efficient to move as much consumption as possible closer to where the energy production takes place. To host data centres in the North is efficient as it is more efficient to move bits than energy. However, this can only be done if these data centres are well-connected to both Europe and other world regions.
The Copenhagen economics report also points to other societal benefits, leading to a significant GDP boost in the region: “There will be new jobs associated with the location of data centres and associated support services, but more importantly, the improved connectivity associated with a strengthened network from the Nordic region will provide new local business opportunities and increased productivity and trade (…) We estimate that an Arctic cable, for example, to Japan, could boost GDP in the Nordic region by more than EUR 1 billion annually if fully utilized.”
You can learn more about the report here, or you can download the entire report from the Copenhagen Economics website.
The Northern EU Gateways project gives a boost to the Polar Connect initiative led by NORDUnet by investigating the shorter route options for subsea cables through the Arctic Ocean. The Project will develop a vision for the year 2030 for the North Atlantic and Arctic section of the Digital Global Gateway, fostering the Arctic region as the important area of the digital shift for Europe.
On May 5 2023, Sweden’s Research and Innovation Office in Brussels (SWERI) held a breakfast seminar presenting Polar Connect, a new Nordic initiative to establish a secure, resilient and shortest possible data connection between Europe and the Asian Pacific for the benefit of trade, security and science.
The seminar, moderated by Dr. Ellenor Devine, Head of Office (Research), SWERI, featured five presentations:
NPF the first step of the Polar Connect vision – Valter Nordh, CEO of NORDUnet
The economic value of submarine cables in the Arctic – Dr. Bruno Basalisco, Copenhagen Economics
Viability of crossing the North Pole with a submarine cable – Prof. Katarina Gårdfeldt, Director General, Swedish Polar Research Secretariat
The need for scientific observations in the Arctic – Prof. Stein Sandven, Nansen Environmental and remote sensing center, Bergen Norway
Research using the North Pole Fibre infrastructure – Prof. Martin Landrø, Department of Electronic Systems, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway
The full recording of the seminar is available above, below are separate videos of each presenter in a playlist.
In October 2022, NORDUnet hosted a Polar Connectivity Webinar focusing on fibre connectivity between Japan and the EU. The speakers of the webinar convey their expertise and share views from European and Japan perspectives.
The webinar, moderated by NORDUnet COO Jørgen Qvist, featured three presentations on polar connectivity:
The presentations were followed by a panel discussion where the speakers where joined by three industry experts to exchange views on the known and planned international connectivity projects from the Nordic-Arctic region and their impact. The panellists were:
Nordic NREN Vision 2030: This is the all-encompassing vision that includes the connectivity, green datacenters, support for local communities and research (Arctic, climate, marine biology etc.). These aspects are all covered in the Copenhagen Economics report.
Polar Connect: This is the connectivity part of the vision that currently involve the Far North Fiber and the POLAR-CONNECT fiber.
POLAR-CONNECT: is the fiber project with a route that will be from Norway to Svalbard, north of Greenland to North America and onwards to Asia. The cable route will be inside the exclusive economic zones of “friendly” countries. The cable is intended to be a hybrid cable that will support generic telecommunications connectivity, as well as supporting research
using smart cable technologies. This does present a number of additional challenges with regards to regulatory, security and permissions. The cable is intended to be deployed 2028-2030, as it need to align with funding cycles and the above-mentioned challenges needs to be resolved. The project is currently not in a stage where further information with regards to partners, potential customers and specific landings can be shared.
Borealis: This is an old idea developed by Bjørn Rønning, taking the optimal route over the North Pole. This is currently not feasible give the current geopolitical situation as it involves a route the traverses charted territory.
Gravity North: a trend/tendency of establishing data centres in the North of Europe where there is free cooling, cheaper sustainable electricity.
North Pole Fiber: is the fiber project that will link the archipelago of Svalbard to the European mainland via submarine fiber–optic cable. As Svalbard hosts the most significant Arctic research cluster worldwide, next to earth–to–satellite stations, the unhindered and fast communication as offered by the North Pole Fiber will make a significant difference.
EU Projects
· CEF Digital Call 1 – Northern EU Gateways – The joint funded project with Cinia and
NORDUnet.
· CEF Digital Call 2 – North Pole Fiber – The proposed project to build a cable from Luleå to Svaldbard. Should be seen as a stepping stone towards POLAR-CONNECT
NORDUnet A/S – Kastruplundgade 22 DK – 2770 Kastrup DENMARK
Phone +45 32 46 25 00 | Mail info@nordu.net | Privacy policy