EU funding for the Swedish project Polar Connect

With the geopolitical situation changing, the need for a secure and resilient data connection has increased. In December, the European Commission announced that it was spending up to 260 million EUR on funding 42 European projects to improve the digital infrastructure in Europe. One of the Swedish projects awarded funding is Polar Connect – a collaboration between the Swedish Research Council (Sunet), the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat, and NORDUnet.

The North Pole Fiber project is that start of Polar Connect, where the long-term plan is to link the Nordic region to Japan and South Korea through a fibreoptic cable across the Arctic Ocean. This cable link with increase the robustness of the global network infrastructure, and create a faster route for data transfer to Asia. The project will also create added value for researchers, through SMART (Science Monitoring And Reliable Telecommunications) Subsea Cables, which will make it possible to produce measurement data on an ongoing basis for factors such as temperatures and flows in the area around the subsea cable. These mesurement data will provide a better picture of the climate changes taking place in the Arctic.

Polar Connect will also explore the opportunity to instal branch cables to North America and other parts of the Indo-Pacific region.

The EU funding will be used in part to fund the extension of the infrastructure from Sweden to Norway.

Read the Government’s press release: “14 miljoner Euro till svensk utveckling av 5G och undervattensinfrastruktur för elektronisk kommunikation” Länk till annan webbplats (in Swedish) External link.

Read more about Polar Connect on NORDUnet’s website Länk till annan webbplats External link.