NORDUnet’s ambition is that we are recognised as the best international collaborators in the world, deliver a world-class technology platform for the knowledge sector, and actively enhance the digitalization of research and education for the benefit of the Nordic countries.

The future ambition is a statement of who NORDUnet are, what we want to achieve, and what we must do to realise this ambition, within the domain of network, education, research, and collaboration within Europe.

By realizing this ambition, an active Nordic community can jointly support world-class research and education and ensure long-term relevance of NRENs with expanding roles. We position ourselves to take advantage of global opportunities and be resilient in the face of geopolitical changes.

NORDUnet’s strategic focus is to be a trusted and agile partner with relevant competencies and skills, to have an organizational structure that supports the Nordic collaboration, and who understands the technology drivers in relevant sectors. 

We focus on leading with ideas and action, on influencing decision makers, and on driving the evolution of key European e-Infrastructures and services. We will exploit all our Nordic strengths, and support communities and joint actions to achieve leadership. To achieve our goals together, we will be mindful of developing the culture of both NORDUnet as well as the Nordic NREN collaboration culture. 

We will drive evolution of intercontinental connectivity at a large scale and be instrumental in supporting European consensus on infrastructure for research and education. We will engage with users in close collaboration with NRENs, support and coordinate joint projects, and ensure the delivery of relevant services and service procurement for the community while maintaining the highest level of security.

NORDUnet have five strategic priorities for 2024-2028 – areas that we will give extra attention and where we will develop our skills, our organisations, and our partnerships, to realise our ambition.

The NORDUnet strategy sets out a long-term ambition for the NORDUnet organisation and the Nordic NRENs. The strategic priorities above are the key areas in which we will spend effort to further develop the organisation and the collaboration.

We have unified Nordic understanding of future organisational capabilities

Future–ready service delivery: NORDUnet is taking on new types of services, with new
customers. We will be a service provider with the EC as a customer for EOSC services delivered for the benefit of all European researchers, funded through a European procurement. We have growing demands for service procurements and must find scalable and reliable ways to deliver them for the community. We will meet demands arising from the digital transformation of education and pilot new real–time collaboration tools and other educational services to explore the future of such services as well as to understand future service delivery models. Future-proofing services delivery and the ability to meet customer demands is key to staying relevant in the R&E area.

Increased European Impact: European leadership and driving the evolution of European R&E networking is a key element in the NORDUnet strategy. We want the Nordic NREN community to develop solutions for the future, and we want to bring these solutions out in the world through European collaboration. To do so, we will further develop Polar Connect, drive trust and identity initiatives such as the AARC3 project, engage with stakeholders in student mobility and campus digital transformation, expand engagement with research communities for optical fibre sensing, and facilitate European adoption of Nordic project ideas.

Optimizing the organisation for the future: This is a mostly internal–focused objective. The NORDUnet organisation is already lean and efficient. As the NORDUnet ambition grow and the expectations of our stakeholders change, we must keep the organisation fit–for–purpose. We must be ready for future compliance requirements and have business processes fit for the services we will deliver. We must understand the skills required and have a plan for securing them.