Tromsø, which resides some 350 km north of the Arctic Circle and has a population over 70.000 is considered to be the Northernmost City in the world. As the Remoage Project is funded through the Northern Periphery and Arctic Programme and all the pilotsites are located in extremely rural areas project members had to travel very far to participate, for some the trip took almost two days.
However once upon arriving in Tromsø we all felt like it was definitely worth it as the beautiful city greeted us with warm sunny weather and clear skies allowing us to experience the midnight sun in the breathtaking mountainous, fjord landscape. Although we very much appreciated this chance to experience the scenic settings and the warm hospitality of the people of Tromsø, the primary reason we all travelled so far was for an opportunity to learn from each other, discuss our experiences and gain inspiration from the ideas of others.
We had a jam packed Programme during our two days in Tromsø, with workshops, presentations, a public exhibition and many, many much valuable discussions between partners. While many partners know each other from the previous RemoDem project and most of us see each other every month in our monthly online meetings it became evident in Tromsø just how valuable these in person interactions are.
Firstly it meant that more people outside of regional project members could take part and share their very valuable hands on experience in implementing RemoAge services.
Secondly the inspiring presentations made it obvious that we have so many more opportunities to learn from each other than we first thought.
Thirdly the informal discussions enabled from the face to face meetings gave us an opportunity to better understand what synergies there are between pilot sites and also learn more aspects of the project that needs fine-tuning if we are going to reach the full potential this opportunity this opportunity have given us.
Together we aim to enable healthier, more independent lives for our senior citizens, to develop a more sustainable health system in rural areas and contribute to more innovation in the regions business sectors. I would also encourage everyone to keep track of the newsletter and remoage web the coming weeks as we have many interesting and inspiring articles and short movies about the project to be published. Finally I would like to give a big thanks to the team in Tromsø who arranged a great meeting for us. Also if you haven’t been already I highly recommend that you start planning a memorable trip to Tromsö today and get a chance to experience the astonishing environments and the wonderful people of Tromsø.