UArctic Congress 2026 – Við Tjarnir, 26. mai 2026
Small Societies Persist Through Cooperation
Dear colleagues, dear friends,
It is a pleasure to see the UArctic Congress held here in the Faroe Islands.
Since there will be many words of welcome, let me use these few minutes to offer one thought from the place where we meet: small societies persist through cooperation.
We have gathered here, in one of the world’s smallest capitals, far out in the Atlantic Ocean — in an island society, surrounded by sea on all sides.
And yet, here, generations have built a full modern society: institutions, education, research, business, culture, and democratic life.
We know our size, and in many ways we are shaped by it. But we are not confined by it.
Small societies face realities where the solutions of larger societies cannot simply be copied. They must build from their own reality, understand their own conditions, cooperate widely, and often turn limitation into clarity.
This is not only a challenge. It is also a strength.
The Faroese people are a people of the sea. From the outside, these islands may look isolated. But that has never been the whole truth, for the sea has not only separated us from the world; it has also connected us to it.
To live on these islands has always meant sending something out, bringing something home, and understanding that connection is not weakness. It is necessary for survival.
To sell, to buy, to sail, to study, to work, to cooperate — this has always been part of our way of being in the world.
And there are signs of this necessary outwardness. The Faroese have, for example, long been multilingual — not like a great metropolis, where many cultures meet because the world passes through it, but almost the opposite. We have had to move through the world.
The base has always been Faroese: our own language, our own voice, our own way of naming the world. But alongside it, generations of Faroese have learned the languages needed to study, trade, work, and cooperate across the North Atlantic and beyond.
To be rooted in one’s own language does not mean turning inward. On the contrary, it can give confidence to turn outward.
That is why cooperation is not new to us. It is not something that first arrived with globalisation and modern technology. It lies deep in the experience of small societies that one cannot close oneself off from the world and still create a future.
What has been true for trade, travel, and language is also true for knowledge.
Today, global change challenges our societies in new ways. Technology, the environment, health, security, language, culture, and demography — these challenges do not stop at national borders. For many northern and coastal communities, they are not distant questions, but part of daily life.
New challenges require new knowledge, and where, if not in research, are we to find that knowledge?
Research has become a strategic priority for Faroese society — not as a purely academic exercise in itself, but as part of our capacity to understand our circumstances and shape our future.
In recent years, we have strengthened the structures that research needs: clearer legislation, more systematic funding, and strategic advice for future priorities.
These may sound like technical steps, but for a small society, they are nation-building steps.
Since 2010, the Faroe Islands have also been associated with the EU’s research and innovation programmes. This has given our researchers, institutions, and companies access to European partnerships, collaborative projects, and international scientific networks.
For Faroese researchers, this means that distance is no longer the same barrier it once was. A project developed here can be tested, challenged, strengthened, and shared through international cooperation.
And that matters, for research is not a luxury for a small nation like ours.
It is infrastructure.
It is preparedness.
It is prevention.
It is sustainability.
And it is independence in the broadest sense.
Not independence as isolation. Independence as capacity.
The capacity to understand our own circumstances.
To make informed decisions.
To strengthen our society.
And to contribute responsibly to the wider world.
This is where UArctic becomes especially valuable: it brings together communities and institutions that know what it means to live with distance, scale, fragile ecosystems, strong local knowledge, and deep responsibility for the future.
It reminds us that the Arctic is not only a region on a map. It is a network of societies, landscapes, languages, knowledge, responsibilities, and futures.
May the days ahead strengthen our knowledge, deepen our cooperation, and remind us that small societies – and Arctic societies - persist not by standing alone, but by working with others.