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Our first fieldwork

Over 1.5 days on 30th September 2025 and 1st October 2025, Finnmark County hosted the “Energy, Industry and Circular Value Conference” (formerly the Hydrogen Conference), which brought together a diverse mix of industrial leaders, municipal representatives, and regional stakeholders to discuss how green industrial development in Finnmark can be achieved through industrial symbiosis and circular value chains.

The conference also marked the start of fieldwork for Project Empower Arctic. Students from UiT’s interdisciplinary master’s course SVF-3006 Energy Transition: From Theory to Practice (ENTEP) joined the event to explore a key question: what does “meaningful engagement” really mean in practice? As part of the conference, the Empower Arctic team and students co-hosted a one-hour “energy café”, creating a platform for open and honest discussions. Participants were divided into small groups, where each group discussed the following five questions:

1) What are the expectations of the «Power and Industry Boost for Finnmark” plan?

2) What does “meaningful engagement” truly mean?

3) What resources are needed to make engagement meaningful?

4) How can Norway balance its commitments to biodiversity, emissions reduction and Sámi culture?

5) What role should industry play in enabling both green transition and local value creation?

Empower Arctic team and ENTEP students. From Left: Berit Kristoffersen, Ariel Andersen, Artemii Denisovich Gribkov, Elias Walther Lipphardt, Birgitte Jensen, Claudia Cheng, Larry Ibrahim Mohammad.

Observing as participants

Energy Café with participants

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