The latest Ny-Ålesund Symposium was opened on Monday 21st of June by H.R.H. Crown Prince Haakon of Norway, who is the patron of the event. His presentation was followed by Minister of Research and Higher Education, Tora Aasland. After their opening presentations, the theme was recent advances in knowledge about Arctic climate change.

Early on the 5th of June, an old storehouse in Ny-Ålesund caught fire. The smoke coming from the building was soon noticed by a Kings Bay employee, and the watchman alerted. A quick and decisive response by the firefighters ended the potential blaze before it could get hold. Some inventory was damaged by the smoke and water, but the structure was saved nearly unscathed.

The Indian H’ble Minister of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences Prithviraj Chavan, and Norwegian minister of Research and Higher Education Tora Aasland visited Ny-Ålesund on Sunday 06th of June.

The Norwegian government has allocated 60 million NOK to constructing a fibre optic cable link from Ny-Ålesund to Longyearbyen. Together with the cable already in place in Longyearbyen, this will create a reliable high-capacity link to the mainland.

On February 10, Kings Bay AS hosted a visit to Ny-Ålesund from the Norwegian Parliament's Arctic Delegation.