Other futures for Arctic economies? Searching for alternatives to resource extraction

The debate on Arctic economies has been dominated by large-scale resource extraction and trans-Arctic shipping. By the mid-2010s, these notions are replaced by more modest outlook, as the pace of developments – largely due to low resource prices – is much slower than projected and various technical, economic and social constraints for extraction and shipping are better understood. However, Arctic regions continue to face major developmental, social and demographic challenges. In order to address pertaining problems, many regional policymakers and economic actors are increasingly turning to a broader range of economic activities, and searching for other pathways to economic security and growth.Information and communication technologies, circular economy transitions, bioeconomy, and utilizing Arctic natural conditions have become a part of the current discourse on Arctic development. This paper discusses chosen activities representative for these development ideas, including data centres, cold climate testing, high value agricultural production, bioenergy, smallscale local circular solutions and Arctic creative industries.