Subsequent to being approved on the ESFRI Roadmap, ERICON has received Preparatory Phase (PP) funding from EU to establish a European consortium for construction and operation of the icebreaking research platform Aurora Borealis. University of Bergen is a mong the ERICON partner institutions European Polar Board, European Science Foundation leads ERICON in cooperation with AWI, Bremerhaven. Norwegian scientists, on the advice of NFR, have formed a national Aurora Borealis working group to develop and coo rdinate the Norwegian research intersts in ERICON. The work includes Norwegian input to ERICON planning, development of a national scientific white paper, and prepartion for a Norwegian application of partcipation.