Project information:
Official name of the project: SMART Aurora
Duration of the project: 1.8.2026 - 30.6.2029
Project coordinator: VAMK
Project partners: Alavuden Kehitys Oy, Energikontor Norr AB, Luleå Tekniska Universitet, Thermopolis Oy
Funding: Interreg Aurora, Regional Council of Lapland
Budget: 1 501 927 €
Contact person in VAMK:
Seppo Mäkinen, Senior Project Manager (RDI and Business Unit)
tel. +358 207 663 388, seppo.makinen@vamk.fi
Project Description
Small Arctic communities face disproportionately severe impacts from climate change while being responsible for maintaining critical services with limited resources and fragmented energy, water, waste management and heating systems. SMART Aurora (Sector-integrated Municipal Adaptation for Resilient Territories) is a collaborative project between Finland and Sweden that aims to strengthen the capacity of small rural municipalities to adapt to climate change. Northern municipalities are increasingly confronted with climate-related risks such as flooding, wildfires, heavy rainfall, drought, severe snow loads and prolonged cold spells. At the same time, they have limited resources to maintain and develop energy, water, waste management, heating and other critical infrastructure systems.
The project develops a new approach in which the different technical systems within a municipality are considered as an integrated whole rather than being planned and managed as separate sectors. The aim is to identify solutions that simultaneously improve climate resilience, energy efficiency, service reliability and cost-effectiveness.
The project is funded by Interreg Aurora. The total project budget amounts to €1,501,927, of which VAMK’s share is €378,053.
Goals
The key objectives of the project are to:
- carry out climate risk and vulnerability assessments in 3 to 6 pilot municipalities;
- develop climate change adaptation strategies tailored to the needs of municipalities;
- create digital simulation and decision-support tools for municipal use;
- implement practical pilot projects that integrate energy, heating, water, waste management and other critical systems;
- strengthen the capacity and expertise of municipal staff in climate change adaptation; and
- establish a permanent Finnish-Swedish cooperation network for knowledge exchange and the dissemination of good practices.
Results
The project will deliver comprehensive climate risk and vulnerability assessments, co-created climate change adaptation strategies, and cross-sector governance models. It will also implement 5 to 7 demonstration pilots integrating energy, heating, water and waste management systems with critical public services, alongside digital simulation tools and decision-support dashboards.
In addition, the project will establish the Arctic Adaptation Network, enabling continuous cross-border cooperation and knowledge exchange.
The project will strengthen the capabilities of municipal staff through training programmes covering assessment methodologies, planning frameworks and practical tools. All project outputs will be published as openly accessible resources, accompanied by guidance on how to implement and replicate the solutions. This will enable the approaches and solutions developed through the project to be independently adopted and applied elsewhere across the Interreg Aurora programme area.
