Smart Villages in practice Examples and messages from

Smart Villages in practice Examples and messages from the ENRD Thematic Group Enrique Nieto ENRD Contact Point #Smart. Villages

Smart Villages Jobs Basic services Digital Social Challenges Opportunities Villages Cooperation and partnerships People Future vision

Smart Villages Vision – our village/territory of the future Socio-Economic development Innovation Social innovation • Low carbon economy (including circular economy) • Digital economy • Urban-rural links Digital innovation • Local Asset based specialisation Basic services • Training and education • Renewable energy • Health and care • Mobility • Broadband How to sustain it

Smart Villages There is no one model for Smart Villages It is a process, all villages can be Smart

Local Fibre Networks Sweden • • Swedish Local Fibre Alliance supports thousands of projects in rural areas – fibre to the farm. Mobilise businesses, farmers, citizens – aggregate demand. . Business plan. Attract public + private finance + community time 93% owned by municipality. Around 50% fibre access. Open networks Negotiate with alternative providers Increased competition, Lower prices, greater access

Community Broadband – Molenwaard (Netherlands) Financing EUR (Estimations) Private investment & crowdfunding 2 200 000 loans and public funding 8 800 000 Total 11 000 (estimation)

Digital Villages (Germany) Acting at all levels of the local digital ecosystem ORGANISATIONAL ECOSYSTEM SOCIETY DOMAIN SPECIFIC ICT SERVICES Residents Local Supply Local Business One ICT Clubs & Service. Assoc. Communication Mobility Basic Plattform Services Event-oriented Architecture TECHNICAL PLATFORM INFRASTRUCTURE Government 5 G Municipality Science Smart Village Living Lab Work & Education Data Management Data Intelligenc e Med & Care Connectin g domain specific services ICT Partner & Network Business Model Digitalization Roadmap

Community Hydro Scheme – Braemar (Scotland) Financing EUR Local Sources (Council, Community Trust, National Park) - Feasibility 33 000 Community Energy Scotland (Repayable grant with interest if successful) – Preparatory period 117 000 Crowd funding 800 000 Total 950 000

Bioenergy Village Germany Financing EUR Cooperative Shares Cooperative Loans 300 000 1 500 000 Federal Government – 500 000 LEADER 200 000 Subsidies Total 2 500 000

Alston Moor – The UK’s First Social Enterprise Town • • • Rural parish in Cumbria (pop. 2, 100), nearest town-40 min, limited public transport, reduction in services…. 24 social enterprises: digital cooperative, retail, catering, tourism, social care, community transport, education, social care, health…. . 50 jobs supported £ 2. 2 m turnover 200 volunteers

Imagining and building future • • • Jobs Youth Housing Health Education Mobility Connectivity Culture And many more

CLLD and Smart Villages RD supports the creation of state of the art community owned broadband RD supports the rolling out of a mobility app developed by a social enterprise to other rural areas in France RD supports a social enterprise providing a training itinerary to support rural SMEs in their digital transformation CLLD cooperation measure is used to build a regional network of co-working spaces accross an entire region

Arctic Smart Rural Community (Lapland, Finland) • One of the most sparsely populated areas; • Arctic Smartness brand = bottom up approach to smart specialization; • Identify capital outflow from villages on energy and food; • Smart strategies for local production and adding value; • Integrated action on education, entrepreneurship, investment in food and energy hubs, procurement, R+D; • Case Kierinki: 116 inhabitants. Pro. Agria/Luke Strong stakeholder involvement from village + local (LEADER) to regional levels

…and many more local projects Broadband Fibre in Östra Bräcke Smart Village of the Future - Project Ruhtinansalmi easy-to-access mobile medical service Local Computer Courses for young and old An on-demand rural bus service in rural Wales On-line Support for Promotion of Local Businesses Innovative rural learning facilitiestackle youth depopulation Geoparks bringing together local business through “quality pacts” Socially Responsible Wine Tourism Quality of Life through Proximity

Current European tools A wide range of existing EU and national frameworks: - EAFRD (LEADER, Cooperation, Basic Services ESIF (ERDF, ESF, EMFF – Smart Specialisation) Strategies for digitization + renewable energy… Horizon, Financial Instruments, INTERREG…. Growing interest - but often not called Smart Villages How to use to empower/enable local communities?

Enabling a transition Flexible tools to enable rural communities to make the transition Departure Arrival • Declining jobs • Digital transformation • Inadequate Services • Low carbon, circular economy • Digital divide • Depopulation • Service innovation • New value chains • Rural –urban cooperation

SUPPORT FOR SMART VILLAGE INITIATIVES SUSTAINABILITY –SCALE UP Cooperation Marketing Small scale investments Animatio n Pilots Research contracts Community Contribution Technical/ feasibility studies Training Needs audits IDEA How to ensure that LEADER can mobilise these tools effectively for local communities?

Some key messages from the Thematic Group • Rural policy should mobilise assets and empower communities in order to enhance the social, economic and environmental well-being of rural areas” (Edinburgh Policy Statement OECD April 2018) • Smart Village Strategies are not about doing for or to - but with and by local people • Smart Village strategies are not there to support isolated initiatives –nor to produce an extra layer of paper plans - but to enable communities to progress along an agreed path for change.

Next steps ENRD Thematic Group on Smart Villages • Orientations for using all policy tools available to help Smart Villages to emerge – now and in future. Meetings and briefs on: 1. How to develop Smart Village strategies 2. How to use key policy instruments (avoiding duplication) 3. How to combine policy instruments more effectively, 4. Multilevel digital strategies • Platform for linking initiatives accross Europe

Sources of information Smart Villages Portal • Rural Review on Smart Villages • Project Brochure on Digital and Social innovation subscribe@enrd. eu.

Sources of information Smart Villages Video https: //youtu. be/ ck. B 71 hb 0 kx 0

Thank you very much!