dRural has already been in the spotlight at the CITYxCITY festival
The dRural project started in January 2021 and will run until 2024. It is already in the spotlight through its active participation in the CITYxCITY festival (13-15 January 2021). This is the annual event of Open & Agile Smart Cities, bringing together global change makers, hot topics and the latest insights about digital urban transformation. Together with its fellow project AURORAL, dRural will have a dedicated session about Rural Smart Communities, a breakthrough project promoting holistic rural development, sustainability, digital innovation and social cohesion. The session pointed to the importance of rural communities taking the initiative to boost rural services such as social care, education, energy, and mobility.
The main idea behind the Rural Smart Communities concept is to encourage people to take initiative and find solutions in order to adapt to ongoing changes. This includes support for various forms of local cooperation or the use of digital technologies. As Smart Communities, namely villages, towns and small cities, or rural regions, are all about better integrating policies by better using digital capabilities. Smart Communities aim at promoting holistic rural development, sustainability and cohesion. Rural Smart Communities session illustrates the rich variety of social and digital innovations that are springing up across Europe.
With dRural, inhabitants in four rural areas in Europe are to benefit from a pioneering service network using digital technology, thanks to an ambitious initiative. dRural Service Marketplace will connect the ecosystem of potential end-users and service providers in rural areas, delivering a broad spectrum of services while boosting economic growth and improving citizens’ quality of life.
Rural areas make up half of Europe and represent around 20% of the population. Most of them, however, record lower incomes and fewer opportunities for people and businesses compared to urban zones. The EU project dRural is taking its first steps to co-develop and roll out a digital service marketplace for people living in rural areas (including, among others, health and care, social, eGovernment, Agri and IT services). The project is expected to help grow the economy and improve quality of life. The future multi-service solution will be tested in four rural regions of Europe: Extremadura (Spain), Jämtland Härjedalen (Sweden), Dubrovnik-Neretva County (Croatia) and Region Gelderland Midden (The Netherlands).
