What’s happening in my country

Sweden

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

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

Key CAP contact(s) :

CAP Managing Authority (Swedish Board of Agriculture)
Key contact(s) :
Anneli Ström ()
Email : Annelie.Strom@jordbruksverket.se
Website : https://jordbruksverket.se/

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

  • The preparation of the CAP Strategic Plan and its future interventions is in progress.
  • Smart villages will only be included as a possible thematic focus within LEADER, depending on the extent to which the local LEADER strategies are including the concept in their measures. Thus, LEADER will have a supporting role to develop local projects that function as concrete, small-scale smart village initiatives/plans, adjusted to the lo-cal village or community context. In the applications to be approved as LEADER areas, many of the Local Development Plans have special measures for smart villages or are mentioning support to Smart Rural Areas as an objective.
  • Broadband and commercial services will not continue to be supported under the CAP. These will be supported through national funding instead.

Key NRN contact(s) :

Swedish Rural Network
Key contact(s) :
Ulrika Holmgren (Coordinator)
Email : Ulrika.holmgren@jordbruksverket.se
Website : https://www.landsbygdsnatverket.se/inenglish.4.6450369c15213cd6fe7de1e3.html

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

  • The Swedish NRN runs a thematic working group on ‘smart villages’ and one thematic working group on ‘innovation in rural areas’. They both consist of representatives of national organisations, authorities and associations.
  • The working group on ‘smart villages’ has developed a work plan with activities on financing and advice for smart initiatives, methods for local transition/development plan and translation of materials from the European Network for Rural Development (ENRD) Contact Point, as well as webinars to inspire cooperation between local, regional and national levels.
  • The working group on ‘innovation in rural areas’ has developed a work plan with activities to define and describe methods to guide and promote innovators and innovations, describe innovation infrastructures in rural areas, collect and publish information on good examples and create meeting places and opportunities to exchange experiences of innovations and innovation processes in rural areas.
  • The Swedish NRN has had representatives at the ENRD thematic group on smart villages and its meetings.
  • As for the future, the Swedish Board of Agriculture suggested that the NRN should play a distinct role within the national coordination of the ‘smart villages’ concept.

Support provided through other national/ regional policies & initiatives

The ‘smart villages’ concept is not included as a specific measure or objective in other Euro-pean structural and investment funds, nor national funding programmes. Nevertheless, it will be possible to fund activities and projects that contribute to the development of a smart village through several of these funds, such as the ERDF, the national funds for commercial services and for broadband.



Further key resources

Haradsback Energy Plans
Hans-Olof Stalgren ( 11/05/2023 )
At the 1st European Smart Villages Pilot Observatory meeting, Hans-Olof Stalgren presented Hans-Olof Stalgren presented Häradsbäck’s smart journey  towards becoming a self-sustained  rural area, equipped to handle  crises and embrace the green  transition while fostering a strong local economy.
Language : English

Podcast | Haradsback
Mette Adolfsson , Ulf Cronsjö - Härlundabygden AB
 Podcast conducted by Hans-Olof Stalgren with Mette Adolfsson (project manager) and Ulf Cronsjö (assistant manager/business developer) talking about how the village association was formed, how basic services were developed and brought back to the Häradsbäck and about their plans to build a pilot project and eventually construct a solar voltaic park for energy production and storage.  
Language : English

Häradsbäck development activities
Mette Adolfsson - Härlundabygden AB
Short video about Häradsbäck development activities in the past years with focus on creating Meeting point, grocery store and elderly home
Language : English

Häradsbäck -launch event of the Knowledge Cluster on renewable energy communities
Mette Adolfsson - Härlundabygden AB ( 17/03/2023 )
Video about the energy plans of  Häradsbäck during the introductory meeting of the Renewable Energy Cluster. Mette Adolfsson is talking about the plans of Häradsbäck to become a self sufficient and resilient rural community with regard to to electricity supply to vital services. In order to reach its goal the village is planning to build a solar voltaic park for energy production and storage (in hydrogen)
Language : English

Lighthouse factsheet of Häradsbäck
Härlundabygden AB
The factsheet outlines the smart journey of Stanz im Mürtzal, lighthouse community in Renewable Energy withing the Smart Rural 27 project. The aim of Häradsbäck is to become as self sufficient and resilient as possible with regard to electricity supply to vital services, especially preparing for block-outs due to weather conditions or other crisis situations. In order to reach its goal the village is planning to build a solar voltaic park for energy production and storage (in hydrogen).
Language : English

Smart Village Strategy of Vuollerim (Sweden)
( 12/2021 )
The Smart Village Strategy of Vuollerim 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 : Swedish

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

Webinar: smart countryside in Sweden and Europe
Swedish Rural Network ( 04/06/2020 )
A presentation given by the chair of the Swedish smart village working group on how the ‘smart villages’ concept can be implemented, both nationally and internationally.
Language : Swedish

Smart village NRN work plan activities
Swedish Rural Network ( 01/05/2020 – Ongoing )
A web page on the Swedish NRN website dedicated to smart villages, collecting articles, guidance and other relevant information.
Language : Swedish

Summary Highlights of the Smart Village Strategy of Vuollerim (Sweden)
( 12/2020 )
The Summary Highlights of the Smart Village Strategy of Vuollerim 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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