Whitehorse hosts Circumpolar Innovation Workshop

A group of academics and analysts from across Canada and Europe are in Whitehorse this week to talk about how the North can become less reliant on southern research and ideas. 

The Circumpolar Innovation Workshop is being hosted at Yukon College by the college, the Yukon government and the University of Saskatchewan.

"We really want to have a conversation among northerners about innovation, and innovation potential, in northern regions," said Shelagh Rowles, executive director of the Centre for Northern Innovation and Mining.

"We thought this was the first step in, hopefully, a continuing dialogue."

Rowles said one of the big challenges for many northern researchers is their remoteness from bigger technological centres.  

"Although we might be isolated geographically from the South, we're certainly not isolated from technological growth and change, and I'm interested and excited to hear about the conversations surrounding what that might mean to us," she said.

Tanner Stewart, who runs Nutraponics, an Edmonton-based company that uses vertical farming technology to grow food, says the workshop is a great place to figure out how his business can work in the North.

"We're here really to learn, primarily, about some of the challenges Northern Canada has," Stewart said.

But he said a major draw was the chance to network with people from across the circumpolar North, including Scandinavia, and talk about why he believes Nutraponics is a viable solution for food security issues.

"This is a really great way for us to gauge how much awareness there is, almost on a global scale," Stewart said.

As part of the workshop, a public lecture will be held at the college Thursday at noon by Dr. Richard Hawkins of the University of Calgary, on "evidence-based policy for innovation".