Week 40 2025

Nordic Bridge Meetings and Participation Summary (Week 40, Bodø)

During Week 40, Nordic Bridge partners, associated partners, and stakeholders gathered in Bodø for a series of meetings and workshops that marked an important milestone in the project’s first year. The week focused on aligning partners around the portal concept, addressing institutional challenges, and strengthening the collaborative framework that underpins Nordic Bridge.

The Partner Meeting on 29 September concentrated on the technical foundations of the portal. Partners discussed portal design concepts, identified bottlenecks related to GDPR, security, and long-term maintenance, and shared experiences of working with their respective IT departments. A key takeaway was the shared understanding that close and early collaboration with institutional IT units is essential to ensure sustainability and institutional anchoring of the platform.

On 30 September, partners met with thesis coordinators from the Nord University Business School. This discussion revealed that collaboration between academia and society currently relies heavily on personal networks and lacks a systematic structure. Coordinators expressed strong interest in testing Nordic Bridge, provided the portal simplifies coordination and reduces administrative burden. There was also interest in developing joint bachelor’s and master’s thesis collaborations across Nordic Bridge partner universities.

Later the same day, the Steering Board and Partner Meeting brought together partners and associated partners to introduce their institutions, clarify roles, and review project progress. The open-source approach for the portal was discussed and broadly welcomed, with the Steering Group invited to provide further feedback to validate alignment with project goals. The meeting also covered project organisation, current status, and next steps.

In the afternoon, partners and stakeholders participated in Sustainability and User Needs Workshops. Using questionnaires developed by Hólar University, participants worked on user stories and shared feedback on how the portal should function in practice. These sessions provided valuable insights into long-term sustainability, governance, and user expectations.

On 2 October, Nordic Bridge partners presented at the Interreg NPA 25th Anniversary Conference, highlighting the session “Challenge-Driven Collaborations – Empowering Europe’s Future through Youth.” The presentation emphasized Nordic Bridge’s focus on knowledge valorisation, youth engagement, and challenge-driven collaboration as tools for regional resilience.

The week concluded with a closing partner meeting, where partners reflected on key takeaways and agreed on the importance of:

• Strengthening collaboration between faculties and departments for joint bachelor’s and master’s thesis projects

• Engaging municipalities and counties early to source real societal challenges

• Collecting user stories through thesis collaborations to feed into the portal once operational

• Creating dedicated channels for public sector and other stakeholder groups

• Anchoring Nordic Bridge firmly within institutional structures and strategies

Overall, Week 40 reinforced a shared commitment to Nordic Bridge as a collaborative, challenge-driven initiative. The meetings helped align partners on priorities, clarified next steps, and built momentum for the upcoming project phase.