What’s happening in my country

Finland

This page contains specific information about the planning and implementation of smart villages in Finland. 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 Finland.

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

Key CAP contact(s) :

Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Finland
Key contact(s) :
Laura Jänis (Senior Officer)
Email : laura.janis@mmm.fi
Marianne Selkäinaho (Senior Officer)
Email : Marianne-selkainaho@mmm.fi
Website : https://mmm.fi/en/frontpage

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

The main interventions to support Smart Villages-type initiatives in the Rural Development Programme (2014-2020) have been the LEADER (M7), Cooperation measure (M16), funding for village broadband and digitalisation projects.

Various digital actions were supported mostly under LEADER (M7) and the cooperation measure (M16) as follows:

  • Digital know-how for seniors and entrepreneurs (M07, Leader)
  • Digital tutor actions (M01, Leader)
  • Digitalisation of cultural heritage and other activities (M07, Leader)
  • Multiservice centers, integrated services (M07, Leader)
  • Digital tools for tourism and different kind of sports (M07 and M16 and Leader)
  • E-health service and other services for different age groups, local experiments, planning, pilots (M07, Leader)
  • E-learning, distance learning (M01, Leader)
  • Skills and know-how for using digital services (M01 and M07 and M16)
  • Digitalisation of rural businesses, new co-operation (M16)
  • Integration of immigrants (M07, M16, Leader)
  • Certain tangible and certain intangible investments and start-up aid for rural enterprises (M6.2 and 4.2)

The ministry prepares the official CAP programme (2023-2027) in cooperation with other stakeholders like, the Smart Villages Thematic Group, the Finnish Village Movement Association and LAGs. The aim is to be able to respond in a fast and flexible manner to the needs expressed by local communities in the following fields, mainly using digitalisation as a tool or as a helper for social and environmental innovations and economic investments.

Several new types of intervention are being discussed and considered in Finland to support Smart Villages. In particular, cooperation (Art. 71, Cooperation including LEADER and other cooperations) are being considered to support Smart Villages at different territorial scales and to complement LEADER.

In addition, a Network of Smart Villages Innovation Brokers is being considered to help Smart Villages in the initial stages with actions such as need assessments, training, feasibility studies, contacts with research, piloting and testing, small scale investments. Smart Villages Innovation Brokers could be coordinated by the CAP Networks (Art. 113).

Simplified cost options are planning to be used also in the context of future Smart Villages.


Key NRN contact(s) :

Maaseutuverkosto – Finnish National Rural Network – Support Unit
Key contact(s) :
Salla Pätilä (Network expert)
Email : salla.patila@maaseutu.fi
Website : https://www.maaseutu.fi/en/the-rural-network/national-support-unit

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

The Finnish NRN is an active part of the smart village process in Finland. It is also part of the respective thematic group in Finland.

The Finnish NRN has been very active in the European Network for Rural Development thematic group on smart villages.

The NRN in cooperation with the smart village thematic group organised the ‘Smartest Village Competition’ in Finland. The aim of the competition was to find “the smartest village” that is able to take their intelligent, out-of-the-box thinking to the furthest.

The NRN was one of the co-organisers of the ‘National Smart Rural Tour’ that took place in the spring of 2020.


Support provided through other national/ regional policies & initiatives

2008: The first national strategy for Fast Broadband (2008-2018) provided national funding for rural broadband.

2016: Study for Smart countryside in the framework of a governmental project

2017: New governmental decision for Rural Digitalization

2018: The Digital infrastructure strategy prepared at the Ministry of Transport and Communications has been published. According to the strategy, the digital infrastructure promotes competitiveness and wellbeing by enabling the utilisation of, for example, data economy and artificial intelligence in both the private and public services. The strategy determines objectives for the development of the digital infrastructure in Finland by 2025 as well as the methods for achieving this objective.

2018: A governmental decision has been taken to make digital services in the public sector a priority

Co-operation between national administration and other actors, such as Broadband Competence Office Finland.

The Draft National Plan for Traffic Systems may include provisions on the Smart Villages (however, this is still to be confirmed).

ELY-Centres – Regional Centres for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment in Finland are involved in and are planned to work and fund regional smart communities.

Some funding might be made available for digitalisation also through the ERDF the ESF (for social innovations, social and health care). Furthermore, other funds and programmes may be used to contribute to various aspects of the Smart Villages process (e.g. Interreg, new potential Green Deal funds).


Key organisations & contacts

Key contact(s) :

Kim Smedslund (Coordinator for International Affairs)
Email : kim.smedslund@suomenkylat.fi

The Finnish Village Movement Association (SYTY) promotes and develops village action and locally initiated rural development on the national level. It is an umbrella organisation for regional and national actors in rural development. Currently, it has 19 regional level Village Development Associations (with village ombudsmen), 130 member organisations representing 4 200 village communities, 54 LEADER LAGs (with an ombudsman and advocacy activities) and dozens of national central organisations.

SYTY´s mission is to support local development, notably by promoting the exchange of information between rural people at grass-roots level, local authorities and national decision-makers. At European level, SYTY is actively contributing to rural advocacy through Board memberships and projects in networks like ERCA, PREPARE, ELARD, European Rural Parliament (ERP) and the Smart Village Network (SVN).

 

 

Key activities :
  • Rural development and advocacy through village NGOs, LEADER and partnerships. SYTY has a committee on village development which follows smart village implementation and progress, and will dedicate a website section to the topic.
  • Suomen Kylat hosted the first meeting of the ‘Smart Village Network’.
  • Project organisation : SYTY hosts projects on immigration, waste water, jobs in villages, male issues in rural areas and the European Rural Parliament. SYTY is part of an ERASMUS+ on community climate coaching.



Further key resources

Lighthouse factsheet of Raudanmaa
Raudanmaa Cooperative ( 2023 )
The factsheet outlines the  smart journey of Raudanmaa, lighthouse community within the Smart Rural 27 project. Building water and sewer system, optical fiber network, multiservice center, and developing tourism and local businesses are some of the actions already taken towards the goal to regain services and bring new businesses to the village area, all through local co-operatives. Raudanmaa’s next steps include expanding Children’s Farm and opening lunch cafeteria.
Language : English

Smart Villages in the CAP Strategic Plans
Ann-Sofi Backgren ( 11/05/2023 )
During the 1st European Smart Villages Pilot Observatory meeting on May 11th, Ann-Sofi Backgren from the Finnish Rural Network presented on “Smart Villages in the CAP Strategic Plans: How to support the implementation of Smart Villages CAP interventions.
Language : English

Smart Villages Taskforce Finland
Kim Smedslund ( 11/05/2023 )
At the 1st European Smart Villages Pilot Observatory meeting on May 11th Kim Smedslund presented the taskforce activities in Finalnd.
Language : English

Finnish Taskforce Action plan
( 11/2022 )
The Taskforce follows within its existing resources discussions and developments around policies closely connected to smart villages, e.g. energy, fibber, innovations, digital transition in order to make proposals on future cooperation and/or programming. In order to mobilise the concept on the village level, the Taskforce aims to integrate “smart village plan” in existing/ future village development plans, which almost all 4000 Finnish villages have in some format. The Taskforce will provide with background information and supportive data relayed through Finnish village movement and the regional NGO´s as well as LAGs to villages.  
Language : English

Case study: Innovation Camp methodology, Finland
E40 ( 02/2022 )
A policy case study on Finland’s Innovation Camp, prepared in the framework of the Smart Rural 21 project.
Language : English

How we transformed an old school building to a community center?
Annina Airola Raudanmaa Village Association ( 18/10/2022 )
A presentation on Smart Rural 21 selected village Raudanmaa’s (Finland) experience with regeneration of old buildings. The presentation was given in the workshop “How to breathe new life into old buildings? – Community buildings & community engagement” at the Smart Rural 21 project’s Final Conference of 17-18 October 2022 in Sopot, Poland.
Language : English

Raudanmaa’s Smart Village journey
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

Smart Villages: Revitalising Rural Services
( 09/07/2018 )
A video with Finnish subtitles produced by the ENRD Contact Point summarising what a ‘smart village’ represents from different perspectives.
Language : English, Finnish

Social engagement in Raudanmaa
Mirka Huhtanen ( 27/01/2022 )
A presentation given at the 3rd Smart Rural 21 Regional Workshop on the social engagement of Raudanmaa (Finland), one of the project’s 21 selected villages.
Language : English

Smart villages in Finland
Salla Pätilä - Maaseutuverkosto – Finnish National Rural Network ( 06/05/2021 )
A presentation given at the thematic seminar on smart villages `Finnish experience and vision´ organised by the Estonian Rural Network.
Language : English

Simplified Cost Options for smart villages
Finnish Food Authority ( 20/11/2019 )
A presentation given at the ninth European Network for Rural Development thematic group meeting on smart villages on experiences with implementing the lump sum (draft budget) cost option in Finland.
Language : English

Smart villages in Finland: Cooperation Measure (M16)
Marianne Selkäinaho - Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Finland ( 20/11/2019 )
A presentation given at the ninth European Network for Rural Development thematic group meeting on smart villages on opportunities under the Cooperation Measure (M16) of the Rural Development Programme.
Language : English

LEADER and smart villages: getting ready for digital leap project
LAG Varsinais-Suomen Jokivarsikumppanit ( 19/11/2019 – 20/11/2019 )
A presentation given at the ninth European Network for Rural Development thematic group meeting on smart villages on ways in which a LEADER project has benefitted from digital opportunities.
Language : English

Proposal for the future framework for supporting smart villages in Finland
Marianne Selkäinaho - Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Finland ( 20/11/2019 )
A presentation given at the ninth European Network for Rural Development thematic group meeting on smart villages on plans for the future framework for supporting smart villages in Finland.
Language : English

Existing policy landscape for supporting smart villages in Finland
Marianne Selkäinaho - Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Finland ( 19/11/2019 )
A presentation given at the ninth European Network for Rural Development thematic group meeting on smart villages on the current policy landscape for supporting smart villages in Finland.
Language : English

9th thematic group meeting on smart villages
European Network for Rural Development Contact Point (ENRD CP) , Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Finland , Maaseutuverkosto – Finnish National Rural Network ( 19/11/2019 – 20/11/2019 )
A meeting of the dedicated European Network for Rural Development thematic group featured a site visit to Finland, specifically, to two of the villages participating in the national ’smart village’ competition, Vähikkälä and Teuro-Kuuslammi, which outlined their visions for the future. The Finnish Managing Authority presented their proposal for supporting these and other villages in fulfilling their visions by designing a dedicated framework for smart villages in the CAP Strategic Plan.
Language : English

Smart Villages in Finland: ideas for designing support in the future CAP Strategic Plans
European Network for Rural Development Contact Point (ENRD CP) ( 02/2020 )
A briefing paper outlining Finland’s proposal to design future interventions under the CAP Strategic Plan in a way that is both simple to use and provides clear added value for rural communities. The briefing was produced in the framework of the European Network for Rural Development thematic group on smart villages.
Language : English

NRN smart village activities 2019-2020
Maaseutuverkosto – Finnish National Rural Network ( 2019 – 2020 )
A presentation overviewing the timeline of the Finish NRN’s activities related to smart villages.
Language : Finnish

National Smart Rural Tour
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Finland , Maaseutuverkosto – Finnish National Rural Network , Regional ELY-centres ( 03/2020 – 05/2020 )
A round of 15 regional ‘smart countryside’ events, organised around smart solutions in spring 2020.
Language : Finnish

The Smartest Village in Finland
Maaseutuverkosto – Finnish National Rural Network ( 10/2018 – 10/2020 )
A competition jointly organised by the Finnish National Support Unit and the smart villages thematic working group. Its aim was to find “the smartest village” that is able to take their intelligent, out-of-the-box thinking to the furthest. Participating villages are offered support and other inspirational content, such as innovation camps, training and peer-support to promote their journey to become smart. Digitisation is one of the cornerstones of this journey. All the villages describe their journey and smart end-products in audio-visual format. Based on these short videos and a field trip, the jury of the competition chose the winner in October 2020.
Language : Finnish

Smart villages thematic group
Maaseutuverkosto – Finnish National Rural Network ( 01/2018 – 12/2020 )
The smart villages thematic group was one of the two thematic working groups of the Finnish National Rural Network. This group was consequently dissolved and a new one is planned under the Finnish Village Movement Association to continue the work. The work of the thematic group included event organisation and overall publicity for the ‘smart villages’ concept. The role of the national thematic group was to help get answers and open up the theme, and it achieved that during its mandate (2019-2020). Members of the group had expertise in innovation, digitisation, broadband, transport and mobility solutions, youth, entrepreneurship, education, and regional development and policy. The group launched discussions, collected and shared information, launched research, organised own events and participated in others’ events, and supported the ‘smartest village competition’. The group raised awareness of the concept and contributed to the planning of smart villages programming for 2021-2027.
Language : Finnish

Smart villages in Finland
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Finland ( 26/10/2017 )
A presentation given at the first meeting of the European Network for Rural Development thematic group on smart villages.

Finnish ‘Smart Countryside’
MDI , Spatia – Centre for Regional Research , Suomen ympäristökeskus (Finnish Environment Institute) , University of Vaasa ( 05/2016 – 22/12/2016 )
A study carried out by the Finnish government examining the challenges facing the country’s rural areas and the opportunities offered by digitisation. The study provides a wide range of recommendations for improving digital innovations in rural services.
Language : English

Digital infrastructure strategy: Turning Finland into the world leader in communications networks
Ministry of Transport and Communications of Finland ( 2018 – 2025 )
The Digital Infrastructure Strategy prepared by the Ministry of Transport and Communications, promoting competitiveness and wellbeing by enabling the utilisation of, for example, data economy and artificial intelligence in both the private and public services. The strategy determines objectives for the development of the digital infrastructure in Finland by 2025, as well as the methods for achieving this objective. These cover both the promotion of wireless connections and the construction of fixed connections. The strategy further deals with other technologies supplementing the data communications infrastructure.
Language : Finnish

3rd Smart Rural Communities Café, Raudanmaa (Finland)
Heini Niklas-Salminen ( 03/02/2021 )
During the 3rd Smart Rural Communities Café hosted by Raudanmaa (Finland) on 3 February 2021, Heini Niklas-Salminen tells about Raudanmaa’s Smart Village Strategy, how they are engaging the community in various local activities and how they are transforming their old school building into a new smart community hall, including a local educational/ therapeutic farm concept.
Language : English

How to finance SMART VILLAGE HALL project?
Heini Niklas-Salminen ( 24/02/2021 )
A presentation provided at the 2nd Smart Village Academy of the Smart Rural 21 project during the working group session. The Smart Village Hall is the HEART of Raudanmaa, serving as meeting point for villagers and visitors in the spirit of old-time marketplace. It is a platform for multiple services for villagers, customers, networks of partners and travelers, characterized by animals and a farm yard enabling new services for nearby cities and enriching activities for the villagers. Smart Village Hall is the beacon of the villagers’ activity, cooperation and innovative thinking.
Language : English

Community led housing projects
Kirsi Oesch ( 27/10/2020 )
Presentation provided at the 1st Smart Village Academy of the Smart Rural 21 project about different housing project examples from Kukkia villages that aim at attracting new residents
Language : English

Smart Village Strategy of Raudanmaa (Finland)
( 06/2020 )
The Smart Village Strategy of Raudanmaa 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

Summary Highlights of the Smart Village Strategy of Raudanmaa (Finland)
( 12/2020 )
The Summary Highlights of the Smart Village Strategy of Raudanmaa 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

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