What’s happening in my country
On the country pages you will find useful information about what is happening in EU Member States concerning the planning and implementation of smart villages.
The information aims to orient people on policy planning, key contacts and resources on smart villages. However, it neither aims to be fully comprehensive, nor necessarily reflects the official government or European Commission position.
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Annina Airola
-
Raudanmaa Village Association
(
17/10/2022
)
A presentation on Raudanmaa’s smart journey, including how the village got engaged with the ‘Smart Village’ concept, and the ‘smart’ actions carried out and plans for the future. The presentation was given at the Smart Rural 21 project’s Final Conference of 17-18 October 2022 in Sopot, Poland.
Language : English
Type of resource : Presentation
A presentation on Raudanmaa’s smart journey, including how the village got engaged with the ‘Smart Village’ concept, and the ‘smart’ actions carried out and plans for the future. The presentation was given at the Smart Rural 21 project’s Final Conference of 17-18 October 2022 in Sopot, Poland.
Language : English
Type of resource : Presentation
Laura Cantarella
-
VISO A VISO
(
17/10/2022
)
A presentation on Ostana’s smart journey, including how the village got engaged with the ‘Smart Village’ concept, and the ‘smart’ actions carried out and plans for the future. The presentation was given at the Smart Rural 21 project’s Final Conference of 17-18 October 2022 in Sopot, Poland.
Language : English
Type of resource : Presentation
A presentation on Ostana’s smart journey, including how the village got engaged with the ‘Smart Village’ concept, and the ‘smart’ actions carried out and plans for the future. The presentation was given at the Smart Rural 21 project’s Final Conference of 17-18 October 2022 in Sopot, Poland.
Language : English
Type of resource : Presentation
Latvian Rural Forum
(
2021
)
The Recognition Label is part of a LEADER project and is intended to identify and support good practice of ‘smart’, capitalising on the efforts of citizens and the solutions already in place to build a more active and inclusive community, innovative solutions to existing challenges. The activity is implemented within the project ‘Smart Villages LEADER Network’ (No. 19-00-A019.333-000005), funded under the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development, within the sub-measure ‘Interterritorial and Transnational Cooperation’ of the Latvian Rural Development Programme 2014-2020.
Language : Latvian
The Recognition Label is part of a LEADER project and is intended to identify and support good practice of ‘smart’, capitalising on the efforts of citizens and the solutions already in place to build a more active and inclusive community, innovative solutions to existing challenges. The activity is implemented within the project ‘Smart Villages LEADER Network’ (No. 19-00-A019.333-000005), funded under the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development, within the sub-measure ‘Interterritorial and Transnational Cooperation’ of the Latvian Rural Development Programme 2014-2020.
Language : Latvian
Government of Malta
(
2014
–
2020
)
Digital Malta is the national Information Communication Technology strategy for 2014 – 2020. It is a vision for “a digitally enabled country, empowering its people, communities and entrepreneurs through the intelligent and universal use of ICT”. It is about making citizens’ lives better, improving community services and helping enterprises to flourish and become more competitive through ICT.
Language : English
Type of resource : Website
Digital Malta is the national Information Communication Technology strategy for 2014 – 2020. It is a vision for “a digitally enabled country, empowering its people, communities and entrepreneurs through the intelligent and universal use of ICT”. It is about making citizens’ lives better, improving community services and helping enterprises to flourish and become more competitive through ICT.
Language : English
Type of resource : Website
Ministry of Tourism
(
2021
–
2030
)
Advancing the digital transformation of the tourism industry is key to elevating the tourism product, enhancing the tourist experience whilst visiting the Maltese Islands, and helping organisations operating within the industry to become more efficient and cost effective. The customers planning their journey to the Maltese Islands are demanding more access to reliable data, seamless digital services, and further use of technologies that render value for both their time and money. In this context and guided by the National Tourism Strategy 2021-2030, for the first time the Ministry of Tourism is presenting a holistic plan of implementation till 2030 with concrete actions that set the basis for digital investment across the Tourism Industry.
Language : English
Advancing the digital transformation of the tourism industry is key to elevating the tourism product, enhancing the tourist experience whilst visiting the Maltese Islands, and helping organisations operating within the industry to become more efficient and cost effective. The customers planning their journey to the Maltese Islands are demanding more access to reliable data, seamless digital services, and further use of technologies that render value for both their time and money. In this context and guided by the National Tourism Strategy 2021-2030, for the first time the Ministry of Tourism is presenting a holistic plan of implementation till 2030 with concrete actions that set the basis for digital investment across the Tourism Industry.
Language : English
European Network for Rural Development Contact Point (ENRD CP)
, Nièvre Numérique
(
06/06/2019
)
A report film about the eigth meeting of the ENRD Thematic Group on ‘Smart Villages’.
Language : French
Type of resource : Video
A report film about the eigth meeting of the ENRD Thematic Group on ‘Smart Villages’.
Language : French
Type of resource : Video
European Comission
(
01/09/2017
)
A short video of Mr Mario Milouchev, Director at the European Commission’s DG AGRI for Rural Development Programmes and Pre-accession assistance, explaining how digital solutions help villages improve the economic performance of their areas, but also the inhabitants’ quality of life.
Language : English
Type of resource : Video
A short video of Mr Mario Milouchev, Director at the European Commission’s DG AGRI for Rural Development Programmes and Pre-accession assistance, explaining how digital solutions help villages improve the economic performance of their areas, but also the inhabitants’ quality of life.
Language : English
Type of resource : Video
European Network for Rural Development Contact Point (ENRD CP)
An online resource containing a collection of networks and initiatives from across Europe, a Smart Villages Toolkit, including research and knowledge, case studies, good practices and more.
Language : English
Type of resource : Website
An online resource containing a collection of networks and initiatives from across Europe, a Smart Villages Toolkit, including research and knowledge, case studies, good practices and more.
Language : English
Type of resource : Website
European Network for Rural Development Contact Point (ENRD CP)
(
09/2017
–
07/2020
)
The ENRD ran a Thematic Working Group on the topic of ‘Smart Villages’ for almost three years. ‘Smart Villages’ was the sub-theme of the broader ENRD thematic work on ‘Smart and Competitive Rural Areas‘. The work of the Group contributed to the EU Action for Smart Villages by enabling exchange on innovative ways of creating more vibrant, sustainable and attractive rural areas and by exploring how the Rural Development Programmes (RDPs), the EU’s Cohesion policy and other financing instruments can be best used to support this.
Language : English
The ENRD ran a Thematic Working Group on the topic of ‘Smart Villages’ for almost three years. ‘Smart Villages’ was the sub-theme of the broader ENRD thematic work on ‘Smart and Competitive Rural Areas‘. The work of the Group contributed to the EU Action for Smart Villages by enabling exchange on innovative ways of creating more vibrant, sustainable and attractive rural areas and by exploring how the Rural Development Programmes (RDPs), the EU’s Cohesion policy and other financing instruments can be best used to support this.
Language : English
Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Latvia
(
18/01/2022
)
The draft CAP Strategic Plan for 2023–2027, prepared by the Ministry of Agriculture, was submitted for approval to the European Commission on 18 January 2022.
Language : Latvian
The draft CAP Strategic Plan for 2023–2027, prepared by the Ministry of Agriculture, was submitted for approval to the European Commission on 18 January 2022.
Language : Latvian
Stanislav Polčák
-
Ministry of Regional Development of Czechia
, European Parliament – RUMRA Intergroup
, European Committee of the Regions
, European Smart Villages Forum
, ELARD
(
27/10/2022
–
28/10/2022
)
Joint European Committee of the Regions (CoR) and European Parliament conference held in Lednice, South-Moravian Region. The event was held within the framework of the Czech Presidency of the EU and was jointly organised by the Commission for Natural Resources of the CoR and the RUMRA/Smart Villages Intergroup of the European Parliament. Closely related to the Long-term Vision for Rural Areas, published at the end of June 2021, the seminar represented an important contribution to the Rural Pact process, launched in June 2022, and built on the conclusions of the Conference on the Future of Europe. It was further connected to the start of implementation of the programming period 2021-2027 in most of the member states, introducing Smart Villages as a new EU policy and promoting wider use of territorial instruments and integrated approaches such as LEADER/CLLD
Language : English
Type of resource : Event
Joint European Committee of the Regions (CoR) and European Parliament conference held in Lednice, South-Moravian Region. The event was held within the framework of the Czech Presidency of the EU and was jointly organised by the Commission for Natural Resources of the CoR and the RUMRA/Smart Villages Intergroup of the European Parliament. Closely related to the Long-term Vision for Rural Areas, published at the end of June 2021, the seminar represented an important contribution to the Rural Pact process, launched in June 2022, and built on the conclusions of the Conference on the Future of Europe. It was further connected to the start of implementation of the programming period 2021-2027 in most of the member states, introducing Smart Villages as a new EU policy and promoting wider use of territorial instruments and integrated approaches such as LEADER/CLLD
Language : English
Type of resource : Event
Ministry of Regional Development of Czechia
(
11/11/2022
–
11/11/2022
)
During the Czech Presidency of the EU, an international conference on innovation was organised in Jesenik region. It focused on ways of overcoming social, economic, demographic and geographical exclusion through technological and social innovations. Key topics of the conference were: Smart Villages, Long-Term Vision for Rural Areas, Innovations, strategic and evidence-based approach to regional development using tools such as Territorial Impact Assessment and Rural Proofing.
Language : Czech, English
During the Czech Presidency of the EU, an international conference on innovation was organised in Jesenik region. It focused on ways of overcoming social, economic, demographic and geographical exclusion through technological and social innovations. Key topics of the conference were: Smart Villages, Long-Term Vision for Rural Areas, Innovations, strategic and evidence-based approach to regional development using tools such as Territorial Impact Assessment and Rural Proofing.
Language : Czech, English
(
25/10/2022
)
A comprehensive newspaper article about Alsunga, the Latvian Smart Rural 21 selected village, and its participation in the project’s final conference, 17-18 October 2022 in Sopot (Poland), together with other Latvian communities was published in the Kurzemnieks regional newspaper.
Language : Latvian
Type of resource : Article
A comprehensive newspaper article about Alsunga, the Latvian Smart Rural 21 selected village, and its participation in the project’s final conference, 17-18 October 2022 in Sopot (Poland), together with other Latvian communities was published in the Kurzemnieks regional newspaper.
Language : Latvian
Type of resource : Article
Fritz Pichler
, Rainer Rosegger
, Mirella Bärnthaler
-
Municipality of Stanz
, SCAN
, Caliber Consult GmbH
(
06/09/2022
)
Stanz im Mürztal, one of the Smart Rural 21 project selected vil-lages, was chosen to receive additional expert support for the full implementation of its smart village strategy. Its project scope was to define the role of blockchain for leveraging the output of renew-able energy resources and to combine technical and social inno-vation. The project goal was to define possible cases for the use of a local digital currency based on renewable energy. As a first step, a renewable energy community was implemented in Stanz. Citizen engagement and an intense participation process provided the ideal basis for the token economic analysis. The Smart Café showcased the results of the Stanz feasibility study.
Language : English
Type of resource : Video
Stanz im Mürztal, one of the Smart Rural 21 project selected vil-lages, was chosen to receive additional expert support for the full implementation of its smart village strategy. Its project scope was to define the role of blockchain for leveraging the output of renew-able energy resources and to combine technical and social inno-vation. The project goal was to define possible cases for the use of a local digital currency based on renewable energy. As a first step, a renewable energy community was implemented in Stanz. Citizen engagement and an intense participation process provided the ideal basis for the token economic analysis. The Smart Café showcased the results of the Stanz feasibility study.
Language : English
Type of resource : Video
Aleksandar Lukic
-
University of Zagreb
, Local Action Group “Prigorje-Zagorje
(
19/05/2022
–
20/05/2022
)
A presentation by Aleksandar Lukić, PhD, at the fourth edition of the event “LET US PROVE THAT WE CAN”, organised by the European Future of Young in Rural Areas (EFYRA) project, led by the ‘Prigorje-Zagorje’ Local Action Group
Language : Croatian
Type of resource : Presentation
A presentation by Aleksandar Lukić, PhD, at the fourth edition of the event “LET US PROVE THAT WE CAN”, organised by the European Future of Young in Rural Areas (EFYRA) project, led by the ‘Prigorje-Zagorje’ Local Action Group
Language : Croatian
Type of resource : Presentation
Spanish National Rural Network (Red Rural Nacional)
(
2022
)
A comprehensive overview of Smart Village developments at Europe-an and Spanish levels, including a presentation of the Smart Rural 21 project, its selected Spanish village, Ansó, as well as other active Span-ish communities.
Language : Spanish
Type of resource : Article
A comprehensive overview of Smart Village developments at Europe-an and Spanish levels, including a presentation of the Smart Rural 21 project, its selected Spanish village, Ansó, as well as other active Span-ish communities.
Language : Spanish
Type of resource : Article
Landesentwicklung Steiermark
(
2022
)
The factsheet overviews Styria’s approach to Smart Villages. This is a further development of the factsheet published by the Federal Minis-try for Agriculture, Regions and Tourism with one of the differences being a stronger focus on municipal center development.
Language : German
The factsheet overviews Styria’s approach to Smart Villages. This is a further development of the factsheet published by the Federal Minis-try for Agriculture, Regions and Tourism with one of the differences being a stronger focus on municipal center development.
Language : German
ADRETS
(
05/2018
–
2021
)
The Smart Villages project, funded by the European Union’s Alpine Space programme, ran between May 2018 and May 2021. Its objective was to transpose the ‘Smart City’ ap-proach to the rural environment by reflecting on the contri-butions of technical, digital and social innovation in the new ways of using rural space and the ‘village’. The webpage con-tains a Smart Villages resource database collected by the project.
Language : French
The Smart Villages project, funded by the European Union’s Alpine Space programme, ran between May 2018 and May 2021. Its objective was to transpose the ‘Smart City’ ap-proach to the rural environment by reflecting on the contri-butions of technical, digital and social innovation in the new ways of using rural space and the ‘village’. The webpage con-tains a Smart Villages resource database collected by the project.
Language : French
Ruralitic Forum
(
06/2016
)
The Smart Villages Manifesto intends to unite those who no longer want to be content with deploring the situation of the countryside or seeking those responsible for its difficulties, but now want to build on their own scale and together, solutions for the future. It can be signed by any local elected representative and any citizen who recognises themselves in its principles and wishes to promote them.
Language : French
Type of resource : Document
The Smart Villages Manifesto intends to unite those who no longer want to be content with deploring the situation of the countryside or seeking those responsible for its difficulties, but now want to build on their own scale and together, solutions for the future. It can be signed by any local elected representative and any citizen who recognises themselves in its principles and wishes to promote them.
Language : French
Type of resource : Document
(
05/2022
)
Language : English
Type of resource : Document
Language : English
Type of resource : Document
Marek Kurinec
(
2019
–
Ongoing
)
A smart data monitoring system (digital tracing system) encourages waste separation and incentivises recycling by reducing waste-collection fees. Stickers with unique QR codes are used for recycling bags, whilst waste bins are fitted with an electronic chip, which is scanned by refuse collectors using a smart watch during waste collection. In this way, the municipal office keeps track of the amount of waste produced by every household and business entity, and the level of recycling and offers scaled reductions on local waste management bills per person according to the proportion of household waste recycled.
A smart data monitoring system (digital tracing system) encourages waste separation and incentivises recycling by reducing waste-collection fees. Stickers with unique QR codes are used for recycling bags, whilst waste bins are fitted with an electronic chip, which is scanned by refuse collectors using a smart watch during waste collection. In this way, the municipal office keeps track of the amount of waste produced by every household and business entity, and the level of recycling and offers scaled reductions on local waste management bills per person according to the proportion of household waste recycled.
(
03/2022
)
Language : Bulgarian
Type of resource : Document
Language : Bulgarian
Type of resource : Document
Aikaterini Kasimati
(
01/01/2019
–
01/06/2021
)
One of the newer developments in digital technology is the increasing use of small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly referred to as drones, in agriculture. Drones are remote-controlled flying machines without a human pilot on board. Drones come in different types, including vertical-take-off and landing (VTOL), multi-rotor drones – particularly quadcopter & octocopter drones with four and eight rotors respectively. These fly more like a helicopter, with the ability to change direction in all directions, but can be more noisy. Other types are fixed wing drones which need to be launched and fly more like an airplane or glider, are less noisy but turn more slowly. Different types of drone are better adapted to certain tasks more than others (see below). Drones can be fitted with cameras, sensors and even spraying equipment according to their intended use. They have enormous potential in agriculture to support evidence-based planning and spatial data collection. Drones have two fundamental categories of application in agriculture. They can be an “eye-in-the-sky”, providing optical observation and recording of a territory including crop growth, weeds, presence of standing water and livestock monitoring etc. They can also be a “hand-in-the-sky” with potential applications including spraying (e.g. of fertilisers or weed-killers) and goods delivery across the territory. The specific type of drone and attached equipment needed depends on the intended use:
One of the newer developments in digital technology is the increasing use of small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly referred to as drones, in agriculture. Drones are remote-controlled flying machines without a human pilot on board. Drones come in different types, including vertical-take-off and landing (VTOL), multi-rotor drones – particularly quadcopter & octocopter drones with four and eight rotors respectively. These fly more like a helicopter, with the ability to change direction in all directions, but can be more noisy. Other types are fixed wing drones which need to be launched and fly more like an airplane or glider, are less noisy but turn more slowly. Different types of drone are better adapted to certain tasks more than others (see below). Drones can be fitted with cameras, sensors and even spraying equipment according to their intended use. They have enormous potential in agriculture to support evidence-based planning and spatial data collection. Drones have two fundamental categories of application in agriculture. They can be an “eye-in-the-sky”, providing optical observation and recording of a territory including crop growth, weeds, presence of standing water and livestock monitoring etc. They can also be a “hand-in-the-sky” with potential applications including spraying (e.g. of fertilisers or weed-killers) and goods delivery across the territory. The specific type of drone and attached equipment needed depends on the intended use:
- Crop monitoring: 1) Multi-rotor drone 2) Thermal camera – thermal imagery 3) RGB camera – RGB imagery 4) Hyperspectral camera – hyperspectral imagery (of selected spectra for specific disease) 5) Lidar sensor – point cloud data 6) IoT weather station – environmental and soil data.
- Drone spraying: 1) Meteorological IoT stations – weather data during sprayings 2) Spraying drone and spraying components (i.e., various nozzle types, computer vision systems) – spray drift, deposition and coverage, and canopy penetration samples 3) Conventional ground sprayer – reference data for common practices.
- Livestock monitoring: 1) Multi-purpose drones with RGB and thermal cameras – georeferenced RGB and thermal imagery; 2) GPS collars – ground-truth data of the animal locations; 3) Aptimiz sensor – labour time recordings of different farm tasks.
- Forestry and biodiversity monitoring: 1) Fixed-wing drone with high autonomy; 2) Multispectral and thermal cameras – georeferenced drone imagery; 3) On-board edge device, for data pre-processing and communication handling; 4) Satellite imagery – Sentinel-2 data.
- Rural logistics: 1) Vertical take-off and landing (VTOL), quadcopter and octocopter drones; 2) Photogrammetry equipment for georeferenced 3D model and navigation; 3) Meteorological stations for each of the points of interest – environmental data; 4) Server for the DD-FMS hosting; 5) Custom-made cargo systems.
Tanya Hulshof-Verheij
(
2020
–
Ongoing
)
The creation of a sustainable village foundation is a network approach that works to empower citizens to adopt sustainable lifestyles. The foundation provides a formal legal structure which brings together local people to coordinate efforts to exchange knowledge and expertise, inspire and facilitate cooperation and encourage action around key themes of sustainability, including energy transition, biodiversity, climate adaptation and circularity. The focus of the Foundation is not on large-scale investment projects, but encouraging local people to take action at their own scale. This means the focus is on topics such as encouraging local people to insulate their homes, install rainwater collection barrels or improve biodiversity in their own gardens. It also means engaging local companies in efforts to reduce energy and water consumption or recover re-usable materials. Key tools used by a sustainable village foundation include a dedicated website and YouTube channel. These are important for communicating about sustainability issues, raising understanding and awareness of the types of small-scale actions that can be taken by local people and encouraging them to get involved. The Foundation can support a local sustainability week, which gives a key focus to local action on sustainability. This provides an important moment not only to encourage local people to take action, but also to share and raise awareness of the different local actions that are being undertaken in the area, building a community of engaged actors. The strength of this initiative is that it targets ‘ordinary citizens’ in an approachable way based on the idea that everyone has a responsibility and if everyone contributes a little, we can achieve a lot together. The aim is to make people aware, inspire and encourage them to take real steps towards a sustainable future and increase social cohesion through encouraging a bottom-up movement. People are thus intrinsically motivated to become more sustainable.
The creation of a sustainable village foundation is a network approach that works to empower citizens to adopt sustainable lifestyles. The foundation provides a formal legal structure which brings together local people to coordinate efforts to exchange knowledge and expertise, inspire and facilitate cooperation and encourage action around key themes of sustainability, including energy transition, biodiversity, climate adaptation and circularity. The focus of the Foundation is not on large-scale investment projects, but encouraging local people to take action at their own scale. This means the focus is on topics such as encouraging local people to insulate their homes, install rainwater collection barrels or improve biodiversity in their own gardens. It also means engaging local companies in efforts to reduce energy and water consumption or recover re-usable materials. Key tools used by a sustainable village foundation include a dedicated website and YouTube channel. These are important for communicating about sustainability issues, raising understanding and awareness of the types of small-scale actions that can be taken by local people and encouraging them to get involved. The Foundation can support a local sustainability week, which gives a key focus to local action on sustainability. This provides an important moment not only to encourage local people to take action, but also to share and raise awareness of the different local actions that are being undertaken in the area, building a community of engaged actors. The strength of this initiative is that it targets ‘ordinary citizens’ in an approachable way based on the idea that everyone has a responsibility and if everyone contributes a little, we can achieve a lot together. The aim is to make people aware, inspire and encourage them to take real steps towards a sustainable future and increase social cohesion through encouraging a bottom-up movement. People are thus intrinsically motivated to become more sustainable.
