PoLAR and Kiel Win Grant to Digitize SMARTIC

The changes taking place in the Arctic bring with them new challenges and opportunities. As sea ice retreats further and more rapidly due to increasing global temperatures, Arctic communities, ecosystems, and industries will be affected. With these issues in mind, Stephanie Pfirman, Principal Investigator for the PoLAR Climate Change Education Partnership, developed the Strategic Management of Resources in Times of Change (SMARTIC) tool. SMARTIC is an interactive, spatial planning game that helps players to better understand the current and future interests of stakeholders in the Arctic through role-play and simulated negotiations.

Now, SMARTIC is being taken to a new level, thanks to an award from Kiel University in Germany. In collaboration with the Kiel Future Ocean Cluster of Excellence, the SMARTIC activity will be transformed into a computer game using ecoOcean, a digital gaming platform produced by Future Ocean that currently addresses the issue of sustainable fishing in northern seas. The digitization of SMARTIC will improve game play mechanics by providing players with more readily accessible information regarding their stakeholder interests, and will also increase the reach of the tool through creation of single- and multi-player versions that can be played online or in person.