Abstract
Regions throughout the Circumpolar North are experiencing unprecedented changes, including the impacts of climate change and the increasing recognition of Indigenous rights. These changes are occurring alongside traditional challenges facing the North including the climate, low population densities, and remoteness. Innovation has the potential to counteract these pressing challenges facing the Circumpolar North; however, it could also deepen and present new challenges if it is not created with the North, for the North. This chapter explores innovation in the context of the Circumpolar North, including challenges and opportunities, while highlighting the importance of the innovation ecosystem. It also provides examples of new and adapted technologies that are being used in the Arctic to enhance traditional industries, promote social innovation, and encourage economic diversification. It concludes with a discussion of how to ensure that the development of new or improved innovative products, processes, and/or services occurs with the North, for the North.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
- 1.
Adapted with permission from Vinodrai and Hall (2018).
References
Aiello, R. 2017. Can PM Trudeau Keep Drinkable Water Promise to First Nations? CTV News, December 28. https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/can-pm-trudeau-keep-drinkable-water-promise-to-first-nations-1.3736954.
Amin, A., and N. Thrift. 1994. Living in the Global. In Globalization, Institutions, and Regional Development in Europe, 1–22. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
———. 1995. Institutional Issues for the European Regions: From Markets and Plans to Socioeconomics and Powers of Association. Economy and Society 24 (1): 41–66.
Apostle, R.A., G. Barrett, P. Holm, S. Jentoft, L. Mazany, B. McCay, and K. Mikalsen. 1998. Bugøynes: A Case Study of Community Resistance. In Community, State, and Market on the North Atlantic Rim: Challenges to Modernity in the Fisheries, 297–306. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
ARTEK. 2018. About ARTEK. http://www.artek.byg.dtu.dk/english/about_artek.
Bathelt, H., A. Malmberg, and P. Maskell. 2004. Clusters and Knowledge: Local Buzz, Global Pipelines and the Process of Knowledge Creation. Progress in Human Geography 28 (1): 31–56.
Becattini, G. 1990. The Marshallian Industrial District as a Socio-Economic Notion. In Industrial Districts and Inter-Firm Co-Operation in Italy, ed. P. Pyke, G. Becattini, and W. Sengenberger, 37–51. Geneva: International Institute for Labour Studies (ILO).
Bickford, S.H., J.E. Krans, and N. Bickford. 2016. Social and Environmental Impacts of Development on Rural Traditional Arctic Communities: Focus on Northern Sweden and the Sami. Journal of EU Research in Business 2016: 1–11.
Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency. 2017. Getting Smart about Sea Ice. News Release, June 29.
CBC. 2018. Study Shows Cost of Food Varies Greatly Across Yukon. CBC News, March 29. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/yukon-food-cost-anti-poverty-coalition-1.4597639.
CCHRC. 2018. Cold Climate Housing Research Centre – Programs. http://www.cchrc.org/programs.
Coates, K., and D. Landrie-Parker. 2016. Northern Indigenous Peoples & the Prospects for Nuclear Energy. Saskatoon: International Centre for Northern Governance and Development.
Coates, K., and G. Poelzer. 2014. Arctic Innovation. In Shared Voices. Finland: UArctic International Secretariat.
Cooke, P., and K. Morgan. 1998. The Associational Economy: Firms, Regions, and Innovation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Cosbey, A., H. Mann, N. Maennling, P. Toledano, J. Geipel, and M. Dietrich Brauch. 2016. Mining a Mirage? Reassessing the Shared-Value Paradigm in Light of the Technological Advances in the Mining Sector. Winnipeg: International Institute for Sustainable Development.
Deloitte. 2015. Age of Disruption: Are Canadian Firms Prepared. Toronto: Deloitte. https://www2.deloitte.com/ca/en/pages/insights-and-issues/articles/future-of-productivity-2015.html.
Dillow, C. 2018. Russia and China Vie to Beat the US in the Trillion-Dollar Race to Control the Arctic. CNBC, February 6. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/06/russia-and-china-battle-us-in-race-to-control-arctic.html.
Exner-Pirot, H., L. Heininen, and J. Plouffe. 2017. Introduction – Change and Innovation in the Arctic. In Arctic Yearbook 2017, ed. L. Heininen, H. Exner-Pirot, and J. Plouffe, 11–18. Akureyri: Northern Research Forum. http://www.arcticyearbook.com.
Expert Panel on Federal Support to Research and Development. 2012. Innovation Canada: A Call to Action. Review of Federal Support to Research and Development – Expert Panel Report. Ottawa: Government of Canada.
FCM. 2017. Northern Broadband. https://fcm.ca/home/issues/northern-and-remote/northern-broadband.htm.
Franks, D.M., and T. Cohen. 2012. Social Licence in Design: Constructive Technology Assessment Within a Mineral Research and Development Institution. Technological Forecasting and Social Change 79 (7): 1229–1240.
Government of Canada. 2018. The Canadian High Arctic Research Station (CHARS) Campus. https://www.canada.ca/content/canadasite/en/polar-knowledge/CHARScampus.html.
Green, J. 2016. Nobel of the North. The Gazette, December 9. Memorial University of Newfoundland.
Gregory, M. 2013. Inside Facebook’s Green and Clean Arctic Data Centre. BBC News, June 14. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-22879160.
Hall, H.M. 2018. Remote Controlled: Technology in the Mining Sector & the Future of Development in Peripheral Regions. SSHRC Insight Grant.
Hall, H.M., and B. Donald. 2009. Innovation and Creativity on the Periphery: Challenges and Opportunities in Northern Ontario. Working Paper Series: Ontario in the Creative Age. REF. 2009-WPONT-002.
Hall, H.M., and K. Vodden. In Press. Learning, Knowledge Flows and Innovation in Canadian Regions. In Regional Development: A Critical Review of Theory, Practice, and Potentials in the Canadian Context, ed. K. Vodden, D. Douglas, S. Markey, and B. Reimer. London: Routledge.
Hall, H.M., and J. Walsh. 2013. Knowledge Synthesis. Advancing Innovation in Newfoundland and Labrador Project. St. John’s: Harris Centre.
Harding, L. 2015. The Node Pole: Inside Facebook’s Swedish Hub Near the A Circle. The Guardian, September 25. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/sep/25/facebook-datacentre-lulea-sweden-node-pole.
Harrison, J. 2006. Re-Reading the New Regionalism: A Sympathetic Critique. Space and Polity 10 (1): 21–46.
Healy, A. 2017. Innovation in Circumpolar Regions: New Challenges for Smart Specialization. Northern Review 45: 11–32.
Hintsala, H., S. Niemelä, and P. Tervonen. 2017. Arctic Innovation Hubs: Opportunities for Regional Co-Operation and Collaboration in Oulu, Luleå, and Tromsø. Northern Review 45: 77–92.
Hodge, G., H.M. Hall, and I.M. Robinson. 2016. Planning Canadian Regions. 2nd ed. Vancouver: UBC Press.
Isaksen, A., and J. Karlsen. 2010. Different Modes of Innovation and the Challenge of Connecting Universities and Industry: Case Studies of Two Regional Industries in Norway. European Planning Studies 18 (12): 1993–2008.
Johnstone, H. & Haddow, R. (2003). Industrial Decline and High Technology Renewal in Cape Breton: Exploring the Limits of the Possible. In D.A. Wolfe (ed.), Clusters Old and New: The Transition to a Knowledge Economic in Canada’s Regions, 187-212. Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press.
Jordans, F. 2017. Battle for Arctic Resources Heats Up as Ice Recedes. Global News, August 23. https://globalnews.ca/news/3690400/arctic-resources-shipping-routes/.
Josefsen, E. 2010. The Saami and the National Parliaments. Resource Centre for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Geneva, New York: Inter-Parliamentary Union and United Nations Development Programme.
Kielland, N. 2015. Supporting Aboriginal Participation in Resource Development: The Role of Impact and Benefit Agreements. Papers in the Library of Parliament’s. In Brief series. Publication No. 2015-29-E. Ottawa: Library of Parliament.
Lamb, D.M. 2017. ‘It Scares Me’: Permafrost Thaw in Canadian Arctic Sign of Global Trend. CBC News, April 17. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/it-scares-me-permafrost-thaw-in-canadian-arctic-sign-of-global-trend-1.4069173.
Leydesdorff, L. 2012. The Triple Helix, Quadruple Helix, …, and an N-Tuple of Helices: Explanatory Models for Analyzing the Knowledge-Based Economy? Journal of the Knowledge Economy 3 (1): 25–35.
Luleå Kommun. 2017. Short Facts About Luleå and Luleå Municipality. https://www.lulea.se/download/18.58e5fa4715e2f9269a28cee/1505286210691/korta%20fakta%20engelsk%20nr%204%202017%20webb.pdf.
Martin, R. 2010. Roepke Lecture in Economic Geography—Rethinking Regional Path Dependence: Beyond Lock-in to Evolution. Economic Geography 86 (1): 1–27.
McNab, K.L., and M. Garcia-Vasquez. 2011. Autonomous and Remote Operation Technologies in Australian Mining. Prepared for CSIRO Minerals Down Under Flagship, Minerals Futures Cluster Collaboration, by the Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining, Sustainable Minerals Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane.
MNDM. 2017. Northern Ontario Winter Roads. https://www.mndm.gov.on.ca/en/northern-development/transportation-support/northern-ontario-winter-roads.
Morgan, K. (1997). The Learning Region: Institutions, Innovation and Regional Renewal. Regional Studies, 31(5), 491-503.
Neary, D. 2018. Agnico Eagle Prepares for Automated Kivalliq Mine Sites. Nunavut News, April 2. http://nunavutnews.com/nunavut-news/agnico-eagle-prepares-for-automated-kivalliq-mine-sites/.
Newman, D.G. 2014. Revisiting the Duty to Consult Aboriginal Peoples. Saskatoon: Purich Publishing Limited.
Niemelä, S, and H. Hintsala. 2016. Arctic Business Potential from Oulu Region’s Perspective – Opportunities and Obstacles. ePOOKI, March 3. http://www.oamk.fi/epooki/2016/arctic-business/?ccm_paging_p_b1802=2.
Northern Review. 2017. Special Issue – Innovation in the Circumpolar North 45.
Norway King Crab. 2018a. Norway King Crab. https://nkc.no.
———. 2018b. Tracking. https://nkc.no/track/.
OECD. 2005. Oslo Manual: Guidelines for Collecting and Interpreting Innovation Data. OECD Publishing.
———. 2015. Defining Innovation. https://www.oecd.org/site/innovationstrategy/defininginnovation.htm.
Pigford, A., G.M. Hickey, and L. Klerkx. 2017. Towards Innovation (Eco)Systems: Enhancing the Public Value of Scientific Research in the Canadian Arctic. In Arctic Yearbook 2017, ed. L. Heininen, H. Exner-Pirot, and J. Plouffe, 24–49. Akureyri: Northern Research Forum. http://www.arcticyearbook.com.
Pitt, R.D., and J.E.M. Pitt. 2015. Nain. Historica Canada. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/nain/.
Porter, M.E. 1990. The Competitive Advantage of Nations. New York: Free Press.
Proulx. (1992). Innovative milieus and regional development.Canadian Journal of Regional Science, 15(2), 149–154.
Skura, E. 2016. Food in Nunavut Still Costs Up to 3Â Times National Average. CBC News, June 24. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/nunavut-food-price-survey-2016-1.3650637.
SmartICE. 2018. Technology. https://www.smartice.org/technology/.
Statistics Canada. 2017. Nain, T [Census subdivision], Newfoundland and Labrador and Newfoundland and Labrador [Province] (table). Census Profile. 2016 Census. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 98-316-X2016001. Ottawa.
Ticoll, D. 2015. Driving Changes: Automated Vehicles in Toronto. Discussion Paper. Toronto: Innovation Policy Lab, Munk School of Global Affairs.
Tödtling, F., and F. Tripple. 2005. One Size Fits All? Towards a Differentiated Regional Innovation Policy Approach. Research Policy 34: 1203–1219.
Vindorai, T., and H.M. Hall. 2018. Innovation-Led Growth and Economic Development Beyond the Metropolis: A Review of Best Practices. Prepared for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario).
Wolfe, D.A. (2009). 21st Century Cities in Canada: The Geography of Innovation. The 2009 CIBC Scholar-in-Residence Lecture. Ottawa: Conference Board of Canada.
Wright, S. 2017. Statoil Activates Valemon Automated Rig Control Room. InnovOil, Issue 59. https://www.innovoil.co.uk/single-post/2017/11/29/Statoil-activates-Valemon-automated-rig-control-room.
Young, T.K., and Susan Chatwood. 2017. Delivering More Equitable Primary Health Care in Northern Canada. Canadian Medicinal Association Journal 189 (45): E1377–E1378.
Yukon College. 2017a. Cold Climate Innovation. https://www.yukoncollege.yk.ca/innovation/cold-climate-innovation.
———. 2017b. Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in Cold Climate Greenhouse. https://www.yukoncollege.yk.ca/innovation/trondek-hwech-in-cold-climate-greenhouse.
———. 2017c. Innovation Prize. https://www.yukoncollege.yk.ca/innovation/yukon-innovation-prize.
Zilio, M. 2018. Vancouver Couple Donate $60-Million to Esteemed Arctic Inspiration Prize. The Globe and Mail, January 31. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/vancouver-couple-donate-60-million-to-esteemed-arctic-inspiration-prize/article37812955/.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hall, H.M. (2020). Innovation, New Technologies, and the Future of the Circumpolar North. In: Coates, K.S., Holroyd, C. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Arctic Policy and Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20557-7_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20557-7_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-20556-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-20557-7
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)