FAU student wins 1st place in “High North Scenario Competition”
Future scenario competition in Norway: The Arctic in 2050
Master’s student Dheeraj Kumar has won 1st place in the future scenario competition of the “High North Dialogue Conference”. Every year, the High North Center for Business and Governance of Nord University in Bodø, Norway, holds a conference where participants discuss the development of the Arctic. Kumar is studying for a Master’s degree in “International Business Studies” at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) and has developed scenarios of the future for the Arctic for the year 2050 with his team in the areas of international collaboration, education and sustainable use of resources.
As a Master’s student, Dheeraj Kumar examines the complexity of international business relationships and how people can acquire intercultural skills. He was able to use the content from his degree at FAU during the competition in Bodø and won first place with his team. Kumar: “It was an exciting and enriching experience that not only opened up new perspectives for me as a student in the Master’s degree program in International Business Studies at FAU, but also promoted international dialog enormously.” The competition that accompanies the conference is geared towards young people with the aim of promoting future-oriented thinking and interdisciplinary perspectives.
An area with several sources of conflict
Kumar found out about the conference and the competition on Instagram. “It grabbed my attention straight away. The future of our planet is really important to me,” he says. Together with his team, Kumar developed various future scenarios for the year 2050 in the Arctic itself and the Arctic region. The Arctic region includes the areas around the North Pole, in particular Scandinavia, Russia, Canada and Alaska. These areas are at the center of geopolitical, climactic and economic change in the High North, which gives the conference its name.
The scenario developed by Kumar with students from 13 different countries for the year 2050 focuses on the role of international collaboration, education, and local co-determination – an ambitious undertaking for a region with complex geopolitics. This is because, in the Arctic, various stakeholders, including global corporations and indigenous peoples, are pursuing conflicting interests. These conflicts arise above all over trade routes, the use of local natural resources or the presence of the military.
A platform for all
For their future scenario for 2050, the participants came up with creative visions for the role of new technologies, the effects of climate change and questions surrounding security. They came to the conclusion that alliances are possible, even in a conflict-ridden area, and above all they are possible due to joint research. “Our scenario envisages an international research platform that connects international stakeholders from the High North with each other – from indigenous communities and universities to start-ups and multilateral organizations,” says the Master’s student.
As the winning team, Kumar and all the team members received a certificate and were invited to present their results during the conference to a specialist audience.
About the High North Dialogue Conference:
Once a year, the most important stakeholders who deal with the development of the Arctic come together in the small Norwegian town of Bodø for the High North Dialogue Conference. The conference is organized by the High North Center for Business and Governance of Nord University in Bodø.
Participants of the conference include entrepreneurs, lecturers and students from universities all over Europe and guests from the world of politics. The aim of the event is to promote discussions between the stakeholders from different sectors in order to push forward sustainable development in the Arctic. Recurring discussion panels during the three-day main program examine geopolitics in the Arctic or the innovative strength of the region. The future “Scenario Competition” is a side event at the conference.
Further information:
Communications and Press
presse@fau.de