The 5th session of the 6th annual Arctic Futures Symposium was organised by the Nordic Atlantic Cooperation (NORA). The session focused on inadequate broadband infrastructure in the North American Arctic, as well as some unique and innovative new IT-related companies that have been established in the West Nordic Region of the Arctic. The panel discussion was led by Kate Sanderson, Head of the Faroese Mission to the European Union, and included contributions from the following people as well as two mini-documentaries:- Tara MacLean Sweeney (Arctic Slope Regional Corporation Executive Vice President of External Affairs and Chair of the Arctic Economic Council)- Mini-documentary about Highsoft- Søren Halling (Senior Software Architect & Partner at E7)- Olavur Ellefsen (IT entrepreneur and Founder of Tökni)- Mini-documentary about Azurafiles- Oana Spinu (Executive Director of Nunavut Broadband Development Corporation)The session took place the morning of Wednesday 18 November 2015 at the Residence Palace in Brussels.

The 6th session of the 6th Arctic Futures Symposium focused on Arctic Council Observers. Following an introduction from Sebastian Knecht from the Free University of Berlin, Dr. Kathrin Keil (Project Scientist at IASS Potsdam and European Director of the Arctic Institute) led two successive panel discussions examining the role of Arctic Council observer states and organisations - i.e., what the observers can get from Arctic Council, and what the Arctic Council can get from the observers.The first panel included interventions from:- Susan Harper (Director-General and Senior Arctic Official at Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada)- Boris Iarochevitch (Head of Eastern Partnership, Regional Cooperation and OSCE Division at the European External Action Service)- Gabriele Altana (Italian Senior Arctic Official)- Rod Downie (Polar Programme Manager, WWF-UK)The second panel included:-Árni Þór Sigurðsson (Icelandic Ambassador to the Arctic Council)- Henry Burgess (Deputy Head of the Polar Regions Department, UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office)- Prof. Yang Jian (Professor and Vice President of the Shanghai Institute for International Studies)The session took place in the early afternoon of Wednesday 18 November at the Residence Palace in Brussels.

Geophysical Center of Dourbes, Belgium

(ENG) IPF Press Conference - 20th of August 2015 - Residence Palace - Brussels

Nicolas Bergeot from the Royal Observatory of Belgium talks about the interesting research on ice mass balance and Earth’s geomagnetic field he and his colleagues are carrying out at the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica research station.

Scientists from the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) talk about their glaciology research projects and share with us their experiences after returning from the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica station.