Our manifesto

NORD 55° has as its mission to explore groundbreaking trends, ideas, and inspiration for our common future. We believe in enlightenment and want to showcase the reality we are facing in the Nordic countries and in the unique natural and cultural landscape that affects our world, our world view and our decisions. We believe that democracy is a process of creation, and we strive to develop and maintain democracy.

If we are to grow as a society, we must challenge the conventional way of thinking about our society, economy, climate, artificial intelligence, inequality and gender equality, with visions for a better future. We need the gaze and vision of artists, writers, thinkers and scientists if we are to fully understand and navigate our increasingly complex world.

Today the Nordic countries stand together as a peace-keeping region in the world. A strong, Nordic consciousness, a new progressive Nordic way, is gaining traction that can cultivate democracy and break with deadlocked perspectives on the biggest problems we are facing today.

The Nordic countries have once before forged a modern breakthrough, and we can do it again: ignite the smouldering forces that can mobilise a new era, new enlightenment, new thinking as well as bring about the major changes needed to secure a common future for all. We want to establish a framework for a new Nordic consciousness, in which we support one another and raise the debate to a new level based on our joined experience. And, to quote the Danish writer and critical thinker Georg Brandes, we want to “subject problems to debate”, find new ways of doing things, come up with new ideas, be inspired to see the world differently and gain new creativity.

NORD 55° invites people from all over the world to interact with us; we want an open dialogue between the Nordic countries and the rest of the world so we together can create visions for the future, the world, and for how we are to live together.