Smart villages - Smart digital transformation of villages in the Alpine Space

Alpine space rural communities are deprived of highly needed jobs, good provision of services as well as a favorable climate for enterprenuership and social innovation, which result in a brain drain. Digitalization is a promising approach to counter the situation. However, the digital divide between rural and urban areas has even increased in the last years. A Smart Village (SV) approach for mountain areas could unlock the potential of local actors to make their region a more attractive place to live and work.

The project aims to apply a SV approach and bring together - in so-called Regional Stakeholder Groups (policy makers, business, academia and civil society) to improve the framework for innovation through new forms of stakeholder involvement facilitated by Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).  The Project is a strategic initiative of EUSALP AG5 and follows and integrative, participatory approach implying a city – village dialogue.

 

The project contributes to better framework conditions for innovation on two aspects – the organizational and societal part (working with Regional Stakeholder Groups) and the technical part (Digital Exchange Platform and Toolbox with new digital products) and combining the strengths of both sides.  Finally, the transfer of the results to the policy level contributes to improve the political framework conditions for digital innovation.

 

The DEP enables the transnational knowledge sharing of the overall project findings and European SV best practices between PPs and the wider public. Toolbox is a combination of tools, methods and tehniques that will provide the main ingredients of a smart village. It supports and guides project partners, but also other regions within Alpine Space through the participatory establishment of a smart village environments in their regions.

https://www.alpine-space.eu/projects/smartvillages/en/home