Harvard students tackle the Arctic’s biggest challenges with innovation

What’s the biggest challenge facing the Arctic today, and how would you fix it?

That was the question put to students at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Arctic Innovation Lab, where this year’s cohort tackled everything from building a Coast Guard rescue hangar in Nome, Alaska, to using insurance markets to govern Arctic shipping. Other proposals explored dual-use schools as climate shelters, Indigenous guardian networks to monitor ecosystems, and new ways of communicating Arctic stories to the world.

For two intense minutes each, the students pitched their ideas to a panel of Arctic expert judges, including Director of the Arctic Initiative and long-time practitioner in Arctic governance, Jennifer Spence.

“Freed from the institutional constraints policymakers often face, the students were encouraged to test bold ideas that cut across security, climate, infrastructure and governance,” says Spence.

What is the Lab?

The Arctic Innovation Lab brings together students with scientists, policymakers and experts, to spark new ideas and approaches to some of the Arctic region’s most pressing challenges.

The Lab forms part of an intensive Arctic policy course at the Harvard Kennedy School taught by Arctic Initiative cofounder Halla  Logadóttir. Over the course of a week, participants explore the region’s rapidly changing geopolitical, environmental and economic landscape before developing and presenting their pitches in a final competition.

This year’s judging panel also included veteran conservationist Margaret Williams, who served as Managing Director of the Arctic Program at the World Wildlife Fund; Anders Oskal, Sámi leader from Norway; and Secretary General of the World Reindeer Herders Association.

Dramatic approaches

Many students opened their pitches with vivid storytelling designed to quickly immerse the judges in their problem scenario. One asked the room to imagine standing on the deck of an oil tanker in the Bering Strait after a collision, clinging to icy water while waiting eight hours for a rescue helicopter that might arrive too late. Another began by inviting the audience to breathe in deeply and then imagine losing one third of that breath. It served as a stark reminder that we are losing one third of the world’s forests as vast boreal forests in the Arctic warm faster than any other ecosystem on Earth.

A third speaker, focusing on Arctic tourism, led with a description of Alaska’s glaciers sliding past cruise-ship decks like moving wallpaper before revealing the environmental costs hidden behind this postcard view: a medium-sized cruise ship can discharge the equivalent of 10 Olympic-sized swimming pools of scrubber wastewater in just one day.

Another memorable pitch focused on how Arctic stories are told. Taking inspiration from a viral YouTube video describing the realities of life on the road by a U.S. trucker, the presenter argued that short-form social media storytelling could help bring young Indigenous Arctic voices to global audiences. The student suggested training young storytellers to create short video clips and livestreams that would reveal the realities of life in the Arctic region.

Wide-ranging themes

According to Spence, it wasn’t easy for the judges to spot the strongest ideas. “Personally, I never want to pick a favorite,” she says. “Every year there is a wide range of ideas generated. I take little pieces of all of them along with me.”

And the winners are… 

In the end, four proposals were recognised for their originality and potential impact.

The overall award went to Eight Hours Too Late: The Case for a Hangar in Nome, which highlighted critical gaps in search-and-rescue infrastructure along the increasingly busy Bering Strait shipping corridor.

The local innovation prize went to Dual-Use Schools: Anchors of Arctic Community Resilience, which proposed retrofitting schools to serve as emergency shelters and resilience hubs during extreme weather events.

The local-to-global innovation award recognised Indigenous Guardians in a Changing Arctic: Building Capacity, Place-Based Knowledge, and Collaborations, a proposal focused on strengthening Indigenous stewardship and monitoring across Arctic ecosystems.

Finally, the big picture innovation award went to Governing Arctic Shipping Through Risk: The Role of Insurance, which suggested using insurance markets as a tool to incentivise ship owners to adopt safer and more environmentally responsible shipping practices in the Arctic .

From classroom to reality

So what happens next to all these novel and relevant ideas? Can they actually move beyond the Lab into policy conversations, pilots or institutions?

In some cases they already have.

“Many students have turned their pitches into op-eds published in international outlets, giving their proposals a wider platform and influence,” says Spence.