Climate change is causing landfast sea ice to become increasingly thinner, putting Arctic communities who rely on sea ice to access food and maintain cultural and family activities at risk. SmartICE (Sea-ice Monitoring And Real-Time Information for Coastal Environments), a diverse partnership between communities, academia, government and industry, has developed a monitoring and dissemination system that integrates Inuit Traditional Knowledge to improve safety conditions by informing decisions about coastal sea-ice travel and shipping.
SmartICE was one of three laureates of the 2016 Arctic Inspiration Prize. The prize was established in 2012 to recognize ideas-to-impact projects that stand to transform the fields of education, health, social-cultural issues, the environment, and the economy in Canada’s North.
“For SmartICE, winning the Arctic Inspiration Prize was the game-changer that launched our northern social enterprise. Suddenly we are known across the North and our vision is becoming very real very fast. Communities embrace us as a sea ice information service for them by them – especially their tech-savvy youth – to complement Inuit knowledge.”
—Professor Trevor Bell, Memorial University of Newfoundland and SmartICE Team Leader
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The Rideau Hall Foundation is proud to be the managing partner of the Arctic Inspiration Prize.
