The third annual Baltic Sea Region 5G ecosystem forum 5G Techritory 2020 was held in Riga on November 11-12, 2020 to review a year of experience after the tentative rollout of 5G technology in the region. Nordic Council of Ministers has been a supporter and partner of the 5G Techrotory since its beginning.

This year Secretary General of the Nordic Council of Ministers Paula Lehtomäki gave her remarks at the opening event by stressing the importance of digital innovation for the Nordic cooperation and urging Nordic and Baltic countries to take advantage of their position as one of the worlds most integrated regions in digital development. The countries already cooperate closely on digital agenda and the new updated Ministerial Declaration Digital North 2.0 has set ambitious goals for the coming years where 5G will be a prioritised area.

Morten Friis Møller, Senior Advisor and team leader on Digital Governance at Nordic Council of Ministers secretariat mentioned the new ministerial declaration in his session about the driving forces behind the implementation of 5G in the Nordic and Baltic countries. The region has both opportunities and challenges to consider in pursuing a successful development of the technology. Møller pointed out the fact that we are small countries – we need to cooperate on advanced testbeds, encourage development of business cases and bringing new services to the market.  The region should focus on building a regional 5G ecosystem that can facilitate cooperation between the digital test environments and a close policy dialogue with the industry stakeholders.

Maija Kāle, adviser for Digitalization and Sustainability at Nordic Council of Ministers' Office in Latvia, moderated female panel discussion "What are the megatrends influencing 5G?", where three distinguished female leaders working in sectors with low female representation - 5G and energy - shared their understanding of the key megatrends that will be driving the 5G and digitalization spheres in the next 10-20 years. In addition to offering their future outlooks, the panel participants - Sofia Elamson from Nordic Energy Research, Elina Lidere from LMT and Leslie Shannon from Nokia - shared their thoughts on the crucial steps that need to be taken to make the tech world more inclusive and diverse. 
5G megatrends: how 5G will influence innovation

This discussion panel was also a part of Nordic Talks - a series of talks by Nordic Council of Ministers addressing the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals through current affairs that capture the essence of Nordic themes and issues. 

Labs of Latvia expierence story