Abstract

While attempts to conceptualise the future course of societal development often emphasise the high-level integration and blurring of boundaries between physical and digital space, digital transformation has already made current societies highly dependent on the flawless functioning of the digital infrastructures built globally around data centres. This study provides a comprehensive analysis of the recent emergence and maturation of the Nordic data centre industry. While paying special attention to questions concerning technological and societal change, as well as industrial and infrastructural inheritance, the research explores the development of the field that has a short history but strong ties with processes that can be traced back tens or even hundreds of years. Examining the continuity between old and new, the focus is not only on the material infrastructure but also on policies and practices that have paved the way for the evolution of stable Nordic societies with relevant human capital and business-friendly environments that support the incubation of new industries and the deployment of new technologies.