What’s happening in my country

Belgium – Wallonia

This page contains specific information about the planning and implementation of smart villages in Belgium – Wallonia. 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.

Explore how smart villages are being implemented in Belgium – Wallonia.

You can also visit the page of the Smart Rural 21 selected village: Profondeville

Key CAP contact(s) :

Walloon Public Service (SPW)
Key contact(s) :
Anne Dethy (Director)
Email : anne.dethy@spw.wallonie.be
Website : https://www.wallonie.be/fr

Support for Smart Villages under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)

  • In May 2020, Wallonia finalised its diagnostic sheets for cross-cutting objectives, its SWOT analysis and the identification of the resulting needs. These documents have been validated by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development. The Walloon Administration (Public Service of Wallonia – Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment) is currently working on the details of the interventions of the CAP Strategic Plan.
  • The CAP Strategic Plan is expected to be finalised by December 2021 and submitted to the European Commission following public consultations accompanied by a strategic environmental assessment.
  • With the exception of potential LEADER support, no specific funding for smart villages is planned under the upcoming Walloon Rural Development Programme.
  • Several Walloon LAGs are already implementing or supporting smart projects (including LAG Culturalité en Hesbaye brabançonne, LAG jesuishesbignon, LAG Pays des Condruses, LAG Meuse @ campagne, LAG / NP Pays de Gaume). Examples include:
    • Cooperation projects between the LAG Culturalité in Hesbaye brabançonne and the LAG jesuishesbignon including the creation of collaborative project management tools for the voluntary sector; organisation of a Youth Climathon (climate hackathon for secondary schools); development of an application to help strengthening short supply chain; mobility challenge; etc.
    • Projects carried out by the LAG Meuse@campagne, in particular citizenship, digital and BiomMap projects in partnership with the Municipality of Wasseiges.
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Further information on CAP & smart villages :

Les Villages Intelligents (Smart Villages) dans le Plan Stratégique de la PAC Belgique – Wallonie ( 30/04/2024 ) - E40 (Language : French)
Smart Villages in CAP Strategic plan Belgium Wallonia ( 30/04/2024 ) - E40 (Language : English)
Taskforce Action Plan – Belgium, Wallonia ( 09/2022 ) - Xavier Delmon (Language : English)
Notebook on Smart territories (Les Territoires Intelligents) ( 30/03/2023 ) - Xavier Delmon , Jérôme Mabille , Emilie Bievez , Marion Delmon , Coralie Meurice (Language : French)
Advancing Smart Villages: Insights from the 4th Taskforce Meeting in Wallonia, Belgium ( 28/11/2022 ) - Xavier Delmon (Language : French)
Advancing Smart Villages: Insights from the 3rd Taskforce Meeting in Belgium (Wallonia) ( 18/05/2022 ) - Xavier Delmon (Language : French)
Advancing Smart Villages: Insights from the 2nd Taskforce Meeting in Belgium (Wallonia) ( 27/04/2022 ) - Xavier Delmon (Language : French)
Smart Rural 27 Taskforce in Wallonia – Belgium ( 18/03/2024 ) - Xavier Delmon
Smart Villages Support in Belgium – Wallonia ( 23/08/2022 ) - E40 (Language : English)
Rural Development Policy information - Walloon Public Service (SPW) (Language : French)

Key NRN contact(s) :

Walloon Network Support Unit
Key contact(s) :
Xavier Delmon (Coordinator)
Email : x.delmon@reseau-pwdr.be
Website : https://www.reseau-pwdr.be/

Activities of the National Rural Network (NRN) on smart villages

  • The Walloon Rural Network has followed the developments on Smart Villages in both the Walloon and the European contexts. The Smart Villages theme was covered at various events.
  • The Walloon Rural Network intends to intensify work on the smart villages topic, particularly in the context of the preparation of the 2021-2027 CAP Strategic Plan. It will aim to promote the smart village approach on Walloon territory and the exchange of good practices among rural areas. The network continuously monitors the implementation of smart projects in Wallonia.
  • Some members of the Network Support Unit are actively involved in Smart Villages activities at the European level (including the European Network for Rural Development Thematic Group and Smart Rural 21 project activities)
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Support provided through other national/ regional policies & initiatives

  • Wallonia launched in 2019 a “Smart Territories” call for projects, where rural areas were also eligible. 43 laureates were selected (20 of which are rural municipalities) out of the 88 projects submitted (61 of which are rural communities). The total budget for the projects is € 7.8 million and the amount of allocated regional grants is €.4 million. Awarded project themes included governance and citizenship, and civic participation (44%), energy and environment (30%); and mobility (26%).
  • The Walloon Government intends to continue the “Smart Territories” calls with a view to developing businesses for the benefit of local communities and supporting the digital transformation of cities, towns and municipalities.
  • Digital Wallonia has ambassadors who meet every summer at a digital summer conference (latest theme: digital sobriety and resilience). They make recommendations, in particular to public authorities.
  • In 2021, Digital Wallonia wishes to launch a Smart Villages call for projects specifically targeting Walloon rural areas.
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Key organisations & contacts

Key contact(s) :

Nicolas Installé (Executive director)
Email : nicolas@futurocite.be

Futurocité

Public / private partnership responsible for “stimulating and supporting economic growth / recovery (directly or indirectly) and technological innovation by accelerating the development of smarter cities and municipalities”.

Missions:

  • Contribute to technological innovation that can contribute to the deployment of more intelligent cities and municipalities;
  • Foster local economic growth;
  • Stimulate and facilitate the realisation of “Smarter Cities” projects, in the framework of the Walloon “Smarter Region”;
  • Support for public authorities in their smart approach.
Key activities :
  • Monitoring and dissemination service for information relating to smart territories;
  • Organisation of introductory seminars to smart cities and municipalities;
  • Organisation of thematic workshops (urban mobility, energy efficiency of buildings, etc.);
  • Advice on urban intelligence.

Key contact(s) :

Jérôme Mabille (Expert for Digital Wallonia, networking of Walloon coworking spaces)
Email : j.mabille@ocalia.fr

Ocalia Belgique

Key contact(s) :

François Laureys (Territorial strategy & Smart Cities Manager)
Email : FLA@bep.be

BEP – Economic office of the Province of Namur

Key contact(s) :

Benoît Muller (Smart Cities Manager/Project Manager)
Email : benoit.muller@idelux.be

IDELUX – Economic office of the Province of Luxembourg

Key contact(s) :

Carina Basile (Director of Operations)
Email : Carina.Basile@uliege.be
Nathalie Crutzen (Scientific director)
Email : ncrutzen@uliege.be

Smart Cities Institute

Research organization specialising in Smart Cities.

Key activities :
  • Annual publication of a Smart City barometer for Wallonia
  • Production of the Smart Cities Practical Guides
  • Research work
  • Training

Key contact(s) :

Isabelle Rawart (project manager)
Email : Isabelle.Rawart@adn.be
Pascal Poty (project manager)
Email : Pascal.Poty@adn.be

Agence du Numérique (AdN) – (Digital Agency)

Operator responsible for defining, implementing and monitoring the Walloon Digital Strategy.

Key activities :
  • Watch for digital territorial intelligence. This mission is the starting point for the Agency’s expertise, which is put at the service of the Minister for Digital Affairs, the Walloon Government and in general digital stakeholders in Wallonia.
  • Cross-cutting agency for the promotion of digital uses: The promotion of good practices and support for their adoption constitute the logical link to make profitable the product of the watch for the benefit of Digital Wallonia.
  • Implementation of digital transformation in the context of the implementation of the digital strategy.

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Further key resources

3rd Taskforce Meeting in Belgium-Wallonia
Xavier Delmon ( 18/05/2022 )
Summary report on the 3rd  taskforce meeting in Belgium-Wallonia held on 1st of April in 2022.
Language : English
2nd Taskforce Meeting in Belgium-Wallonia
Xavier Delmon ( 01/04/2022 )
Summary report on the 2nd  taskforce meeting in Belgium-Wallonia held on 1st of April in 2022.
Language : English
1st Taskforce Meeting in Belgium-Wallonia
Xavier Delmon ( 01/04/2022 )
Summary report on the 1st  taskforce meeting in Belgium-Wallonia held on 1st of April in 2022.
Language : English
Poster summary for the Smart Rural 27 Taskforce in Belgium–Wallonia
Xavier Delmon ( 18/03/2024 )
Poster summary and presentation on taskforce activities in  Belgium–Wallonia.  The presentation on the poster was given at the Smart Rural 27 project’s Final Conference of 18-19 March 2024, in Brussels, Belgium.
Language : English
Case study: Call for innovative projects ‘Smart Territory’ Wallonia, Belgium
E40 ( 02/2022 )
A policy case study on the call of Wallonia, Belgium, prepared in the framework of the Smart Rural 21 project
Language : English
5th Smart Rural Café, Profondeville (Wallonia – Belgium)
Bernard Dubuisson - Municipality of Profondeville ( 23/06/2021 )
During the 5th Smart Rural Communities Café, Bernard Dubuisson from Profondeville tells about their plans to provide open data to help solve mobility problems and explain how they would like to bring new practices into public service provision around the management of data. He also explains how they provided broadband internet to a remote village at a very low cost and unveil how garbage trucks can help improve mobile coverage.
Language : English
BiomMap
Meuse Campagnes LAG
The Walloon region is currently carrying out a study on the ecological network of the Walloon region, including the various interactions within the an ecosystem. Municipalities, associations and citizens have high expectations to intervene on the ground to validate, conserve and even restore the ecological network locally. The project works to leverage the regional study in order to meet local expectations and challenges through individual solutions. The project was nominated for the Rural Inspiration Awards 2021 of the European Network for Rural Development Contact Point.
Language : English
Smart Villages: Revitalisation of rural services
European Network for Rural Development Contact Point (ENRD CP)
A video produced by the European Network for Rural Development Contact Point subtitled in French, explaining how a smart village works, thanks to the ability of rural residents who look for practical solutions to the disadvantages and opportunities of their territories
Language : English, French
Data use and management to improve rural services
Bernard Dubuisson - Municipality of Profondeville ( 23/02/2021 )
A presentation provided at the 2nd Smart Village Academy of the Smart Rural 21 project during the “Local data and data management– recognising data and making use of it” working group.The presentation aimed to address questions like: Which data do you deal with? How do you deal with data? How open data can help public policy? Which support do villages need?
Language : English
Summary Highlights of the Smart Village Strategy of Profondeville (Belgium)
Municipality of Profondeville ( 12/2020 )
The Summary Highlights of the Smart Village Strategy of Profondeville has been developed in the context of the ‘Preparatory Action for Smart Rural Areas in the 21st Century’ project funded by the European Commission.
Language : English
Regard sur l’économie Wallonne – Economie du numérique (A look at the Walloon Economy – Digital Economy)
SOGEPA – Economic and Strategic Analysis Unit ( 2015 )
Reference document (2015) used as a basis for reflection during the Assises du Numérique (participative approach on digitalisation), organised for the first time in 2015.
Language : French
InterGAL meeting on “Third places”
Walloon Network Support Unit ( 26/09/2019 )
LAGs Seminar
Language : French
Midi du RwDR (Open Data event of the Walloon Rural Network)
Walloon Network Support Unit ( 06/12/2018 )
Short seminar on “open data”
Language : French
European Seminar Fostering Innovation – Meet the challenges of rurality
Walloon Network Support Unit ( 17/05/2018 – 18/05/2018 )
2-day European Seminar including several workshops dealing with the themes of collaborative third-places, smart Rural Living Lab, Smart territory and village, smart farming, etc.
Language : English, French
Smart City Guide
Smart Cities Institute
Practical guides for smart cities developments.
Language : Dutch, French
Smart City Barometer for Wallonia
Smart Cities Institute
Annual publication of a Smart City barometer for Wallonia.
Language : French
Digital Wallonia Champions
Agence du Numérique (AdN) – (Digital Agency)
Official representatives of Digital Wallonia. They carry out 3 missions: promote digital technology, disseminate Digital Wallonia’s actions and propose ideas for the digital development of Wallonia.
Language : French
GeoChallenge
Walloon Public Service (SPW)
First edition of a Walloon geographic information exploitation programme.
Language : French
Smart Territory Call for Projects
Agence du Numérique (AdN) – (Digital Agency) ( 2019 )
Projects aim to encourage Walloon towns and municipalities to develop digital projects in the areas of energy, environment, mobility or governance.
Language : French
Declaration of Walloon Regional Policy
Walloon Government
Language : French
Digital Wallonia Strategy
Agence du Numérique (AdN) – (Digital Agency)
Website of Agence du Numérique (AdN) responsible for implementing the Digital Wallonia Strategy
Language : English, French
Digital Citizenship
Meuse Campagnes LAG
Projects by Meuse Campagnes, including assistance tools for the reconstruction of the ecological network (biodiversity), including participatory production of qualitative data on biotopes by citizens (hedges, trees, islets, plantations, etc.) on a web platform. The platform will also allow citizens to visualise the potential of biodiversity of its plot / commune, to receive advice on its plot and to report public places to maintain biodiversity level in different areas.
Language : French
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