At the beginning of March 2024, a bilateral project “HarSval Bilateral Initiative aiming at Harmonisation of the Svalbard Cooperation” started. The Polish Polar Consortium initiated the project. The cooperation involves 11 partners from Poland and 14 partners from Norway.

The project’s objectives focus on strengthening bilateral relations between Norway and Poland, expanding the network of partners and the scope of existing research activities, and transferring knowledge, technology, experience and best practices.
The project’s main tasks include modernising and standardising the Svalbard monitoring system and data-sharing activities per FAIR principles.
The initiative will be implemented for 12 months between 1 March 2024 and 28 February 2025, with a project budget of €1 580 000. Funding is guaranteed by the EEA Financial Mechanism and the Norwegian Financial Mechanism 2014-2021 (www.eeagrants.org).

Tasks carried out at the Centre for Geospatial and Satellite Analysis mainly include the design and development of the core components of the Central Geospatial Service Server for the Polar Database, including:

• Development of tools for integration with other polar survey databases (e.g. SIOS Data Access Portal).
• Development of tools for integration with other thematic data services (e.g. international GNSS services, EUREF, EUPOS, etc.).
• Configuration of basic tools and applications for geovisualisation of data
• Configuration of essential tools and applications for data analysis, including big data and artificial intelligence.

Detailed information about the HarSval project can be found at www.harsval.eu.