Keflavik, Iceland - 01. 07. 2026
When I stepped into the role of Managing Director in Iceland about a year ago, community engagement was not a new concept for Verne, but it was an area where I believed we could go further and be more deliberate in our approach.
For many years, our focus in Iceland was on operational excellence: building and running the critical infrastructure our customers depend on. But as data centers become a bigger part of national and local conversations, we cannot be seen as a “black box” in the community, a company people know is there, but do not fully understand.
That is what I wanted to change. We have operated in Iceland since 2012, but our role now needs to be more visible, active and connected. That matters not only for brand awareness, but for the quality of the relationships we build with the municipality, government, power producers, transmission companies, suppliers, future employees and the people who live around us.
Community engagement is not something we have fully cracked, and there is no single model that works everywhere. Each place has its own priorities, relationships and ideas. What matters is giving it the focus it deserves: listening properly, contributing in ways that are relevant and sustained, and being a good neighbor in practice.
For us, that care has to be practical. It means listening first, acting where we can be useful, and showing up consistently over time, not as a company on the edge of the community, but as part of it.
Starting locally, and acting where we can have immediate impact
Being based locally makes a real difference. Many of us live close to the data center. Our children go to local schools. We are part of local sports clubs, cultural organisations and community networks. This is not an abstract place for us, it is home.
That local connection helps us have direct conversations with schools, community organisations and local stakeholders about where Verne can contribute.
One of the first areas we focused on was supporting local sports organisations within Reykjanesbær, the municipality where our campus is located. We have entered into a three-year partnership with Njarðvík, one of the two main clubs in the area, supporting both youth and senior teams across basketball and football.
Sport reaches deeply into local life, bringing together children, parents, volunteers and supporters. By supporting youth and senior teams, we can help strengthen something that already matters to the community.
We are also in dialogue with Keflavík, the other major club in the municipality. Our ambition is to ensure that our support is balanced and reflective of the wider community, rather than being associated with only one part of local sporting life.
Alongside sport, we have worked directly with local schools. We started with a primary school in the area, meeting its leadership to understand what would make the biggest difference. The school had already begun developing a science and technology lab, with activities linked to programming, robotics and 3D printing.
Following those conversations, Verne is supporting the school with equipment for the lab, while also bringing in partners from our supplier network to contribute. It is a practical initiative, stemming from dialogue and shaped by what the school told us it needed.
Thinking long-term: building skills and understanding
Data centers are long-term investments. They become part of the local landscape, and their role continues to evolve over decades.
That makes long-term engagement essential.
We are working closely with a regional trade school to explore the development of a dedicated data center specialisation track. The aim is to help prepare electricians, mechanical engineers and other technical professionals for future roles in the data center industry.
As the industry grows, so too will the demand for technical skills — not only within Verne, but across the network of companies that support our operations and future development. It also reflects an idea we value at Verne: natural intelligence — the human skills, local knowledge and practical judgement that help communities and industries grow well.
The work is being developed with the school, the local municipality and the Icelandic Ministry of Education. We have also connected the school with a similar programme in Finland, so they can learn from an established model and consider how best to shape a curriculum for Iceland.
Over time, this could also connect to a broader knowledge centre concept at our campus: a place where students and local communities can better understand what data centers do, how they work and why they matter to everyday digital life.
That understanding is important. Data centers are often invisible to the communities around them, yet they support everyday digital services — from communications and public services to businesses and digital tools. If people only see the power use and not the purpose, they do not get the full picture.
Our role is to help make that picture clearer, through openness, education and dialogue.
A shared effort
Community engagement is not something we do in isolation.
We are beginning to involve a wider group of partners, including suppliers, contractors and customers looking for meaningful ways to contribute locally.
For future projects, we are looking at how community engagement can be built into contractor relationships more formally, asking companies working with us to allocate either manpower or funding to Verne-led community initiatives.
This helps make local contribution part of how we deliver projects, not something separate from them.
We are also seeing interest from customers who want to participate in Verne-led community projects. That creates an opportunity to bring more organisations into the effort, while keeping the work locally focused and coordinated through Verne.
Looking ahead
This is an ongoing effort, and one that will continue to evolve.
Our goal is to ensure that as we grow in Iceland, we remain closely connected to the community around us.
That means continuing to listen, build relationships and recognise that what works in one place may not be right for another. The important thing is to keep giving community engagement the focus it deserves, contributing in ways that are practical, relevant and sustained.
We have been part of Iceland since 2012. The next step is to make sure we are not only present here, but visible, and working with others to be a good neighbor to create positive impact.