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'A step towards the digital transformation of the Arctic'

The Digital Arctic science and technology IT park opened in Arkhangelsk

11 november 2022

The Digital Arctic science and technology IT park was opened in Arkhangelsk on 10 November. It was created under the auspices of the Northern (Arctic) Federal University (NArFU) and the Arkhangelsk regional government. The main objective of the new park is to create an interregional IT ecosystem for the formation of digital competencies of the population, training personnel and implementing technological projects of the digital economy.

The Digital Arctic science and technology IT park will be a driver for the digitalisation of the entire Arctic zone of Russia, and the solutions developed in the park will find application in all sectors.

It will be a platform for the implementation of projects by the Russian Arctic: New Materials, Technologies and Research Methods science and education centre. For example, it will help to create software to study diamond single crystals. However, not only scientists will benefit from the opening of the Digital Arctic. Three application areas have already been formed.

The E-Navigation project is designed to make navigation along the North Sea Route safer, which is one of the key areas of Digital Arctic work. Digital twins will be created for all Arctic ports, and artificial intelligence will be responsible for predicting emergency situations. A simulator is already being developed to train students in crewless navigation.

The Smart Forest project involves the digitalisation of the forest industry and the production of forest products, as well as all forest management processes.

'NArFU, together with forestry enterprises, is already testing developments in this area in practice: thanks to the algorithms developed, it is possible to determine the species of trees, as well as their height, trunk diameter and volume, using photographs taken by drones. The company, in turn, receives the processed data in the form of mapping with the parameters of each individual tree,' said Roman Aleshko, Professor of the Department of Informational Systems and Technologies at NArFU.

The Telemedicine project will help to provide timely and high-quality medical care not only to Arctic residents but also to shift workers.

'The creation of an IT competence centre based at NArFU will not only be a new step towards the digital transformation of the Arctic, its accelerated economic development, but will also improve the quality of life of millions of people who live and work beyond the Arctic Circle,' Yury Trutnev stressed.

The historic building of the former Army Headquarters was specially reconstructed for the Digital Arctic. It is located in the heart of Arkhangelsk, near the main building of NArFU and the planned world-class inter-university campus 'Arctic Star.' 

The spacious building houses 15 IT labs, one virtual lab, conference rooms, co-working rooms, spaces for project work, and an IT café. In classrooms for hybrid learning with touch boards and projectors, students can listen to lectures, participate in teleconferences with colleagues from other universities and discuss projects. And the robotics workshops have everything they need to assemble smart mechanisms and repair them after difficult tests.

The new IT Park is not only a territory for a professional community but also a space for all Arkhangelsk residents. Therefore, all Arkhangelsk residents, including children and retired people, will be able to use the classrooms and laboratories of Digital Arctic. And high technology will ensure the safety of high-tech equipment and the safety of guests: even the turnstiles in the new building are able to recognise faces and automatically measure the temperature.

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