Smart Digital Transformation of Villages in the Alpine Space
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Digital platform for citizens and authorities, municipality of Isérables (Switzerland) (picture Peter Niederer) Smart Digital Transformation of Villages in the Alpine Space Newsletter #01 – March 2019 SmartVillages aims to create opportunities for a smart transition of Municipalities and Regions in mountainous areas through new forms of stakeholder involvement facilitated by Information and Communication Technologies. Innovative 2.685.381 EUR from 17 April 2018 to 16 April 2021 Newsletter #01 – March 2019 www.alpine-space.eu/projects/smartvillages www.facebook.com/project.SmartVillages/ Alpine space rural communities suffer from a brain drain, due to the lack of highly needed jobs, good provision of services as well as a favourable climate for entrepreneurship and social innovation. Although digitalisation offers a promising approach to address this challenge, the digital divide between rural and urban areas has increased in the last years. A smart village approach for mountain areas could unlock the potential of local actors to make their region a more attractive place to live and work. By applying a smart village approach and bringing together policy-makers, business, academia and civil society actors, the project aims at fostering innovation through new forms of stakeholder involvement facilitated by Information and Communication Technologies. WHAT ARE SMART VILLAGES? According to the European Commission, smart villages are communities in rural areas that develop smart solutions to deal with challenges in their local context. They build on existing local strengths and opportunities to engage in a process of sustainable development of their territories. They rely on a participatory approach to develop and implement their strategies to improve their economic, social and environmental conditions, in particular by promoting innovation and mobilizing solutions offered by digital technologies. Smart villages benefit from cooperation and alliances with other communities and actors in rural and urban areas. The initiation and the implementation of smart village strategies may build on existing initiatives and can be funded by a variety of public and private sources. HOW COULD YOUR RURAL COMMUNITY BECOME SMART? SmartVillages guides stakeholders to understand the SV concept and develop it on their communities: 1 To Initiate understanding and mutual learning on the SV Ecosystem 2 To Facilitate innovation through the development of tools and transnational exchange 3 To Raise awareness for a SV policy MORE INFO www.alpine-space.eu/projects/smartvillages Newsletter #01 – March 2019 ALL SMART DIMENSIONS In the first project phase are been identified six different “dimensions” of the smartness: Smart Mobility - new and integrated modes of transportation Smart Governance - public services improvement: greater efficiency, community leadership and mobile working Smart Economy – new, innovative models and strategy of business approach Smart Environment – sustainable and advanced intelligence applied to the territory and the environment Smart Living – original and innovative solutions aimed at improving the quality of life Smart People – approaches finalized to an inclusive society that promotes innovation DISCOVER OUR TEST AREAS Municipality of Löffingen - Regionalverband Südlicher Oberrhein (Germany) Löffingen is a town in Baden-Württemberg (Germany). It is situated 40 km southeast of Freiburg. Löffingen covers an area of 88 km² and has a population of approximately 7.700 inhabitants of which only one half lives in the core town. Apart from the historic centre Löffingen is most famous for the so-called “Wutach Canyon” at the edge of the Black Forrest. The Test Area will focus on citizen-centred smart governance including also smart mobility and smart living. At the moment the Regional Stakeholder Group composed by local public administration, businesses and civil society concentrates on the integration of young people and the evaluation of several possible implementation projects. Newsletter #01 – March 2019 Pitzal Valley - Tiroler Zukunftsstiftung (Standortagentur Tirol) (AT) The Pitztal Valley is a 40 km long side valley of the Inn Valley, which is placed in the south of Imst. It consists of four communities: Arzl im Pitztal, Jerzens, St. Leonhard im Pitztal and Wenns. All in all, 7,400 people are living in the Pitztal. From an economic perspective, the tourism sector is very important for the Pitztal. Due to the location of the valley and the structures there, digitalisation can improve the life quality of inhabitants and tourists in many ways. Need is e.g. a better accessibility of the valley, especially in off-peak periods. Due to natural hazards new communication channels between inhabitants and communities are needed. Old structures in the tourism field are limiting the visibility of the area in a global tourism perspective. In the project the activities will concentrate on 3 topics: digitalisation in the tourism sector, smart mobility and smart communities. Aims are the creation of new opportunities in the tourism sector, better accessibility for guests and inhabitants and better services and communication between inhabitants and communities. Target groups are tourists, tourism enterprises, tourism association Pitztal, communities, and inhabitants. Newsletter #01 – March 2019 Bodensee area and Lake Constance Region - Bodensee Standort Marketing GmbH (DE) The Bodensee Standort Marketing GmbH (BSM) is a bureau for transnational business development located in the Bodensee-area. The BSM is a public administration with 34 shareholders from Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Lake Constance is also an international, digital region for small and medium- sized enterprises. In the project "SmartVillages" the BSM wants to anchor the topic 360° as a comprehensive topic. For this purpose, a platform will be created to combine the beautiful images of the region with economic benefits (smart economy). Citizens should be actively taken on the path of digital transformation (smart governance). Small businesses in rural areas should use a blogger to communicate their service portfolio with the outside world (smart living). Padna Village, Solčava and Kungota Municipality - University of Ljubljana (SLO) Padna Village is located in rural area in Coastal region of Slovenia. The village covers around 3 km2 and has approximately 180 inhabitants. The region has a sub-Mediterranean climate conditions, which enable the development of tourism and some special agricultural crops production (i.e. olive trees, Mediterranean herbs). Economy of the region is strongly based on services such as trade, accommodation, and transport that are generated by activities at the port of Koper. In port of Koper also tourists cruise ships have their stopping point. Village Padna provides genuine experience of the coastal countryside to tourist who are Newsletter #01 – March 2019 important source of income. The main aim is to support the activities in the field of smart tourism and establishing of the dispersed hotel Padna. Focal point of our collaboration is a local community. The Municipality of Solčava lies at the Slovenian – Austrian borderline, in the headwaters of Savinja River. The specialty of the region are three parallel Alpine, glacial valleys of Logarska dolina, Robano kot and Matkov kot. 80% of the region is protected under Landscape Park and Natura 2000 site. The municipality covers 103 km2 and has around 550 inhabitants. The community lives in sustainable relationship with environment through traditional or organic farming, forestry and crafts as well as agri- and eco- tourism, thus allowing for continuous environmental protection of the area. The main interests of this project is to foster the already functioning initiatives (cooperation of land owners in Logar valley, wool processing, food products, wood craftsmen, young locals) and professionalize it with new approaches. One of the focal partners is the Municipality Solčava. The Municipality of Kungota is a small municipality situated in the north-eastern part of Slovenia in the hilly region of Slovenske Gorice. It covers territory of 49 km2 and counts around 4300 inhabitants. To the north it borders to the Austrian state border. Around 80% of inhabitants are farmers, primarily traditional winegrowers on family farms by working on own land and also rented land. In addition, a large company AJM Ltd. employs a number of inhabitants. Others work in the service sector such as building construction, electrical infrastructure, carpenters, expanding business also in the larger cross-border Austrian Styria region. One of the focal points of the community is the Intergenerational centre The House of all Generations Kungota which was established by the Municipality of Kungota in the year 2013. Valli del SOL - Agenzia di Sviluppo Gal Genovese (IT) “Valli del SOL” is a rural mountain area in the Liguria Region (IT). It is composed of three main Valleys (Stura Orba and Leira) and five Municipalities (Campo Ligure, Masone, Mele, Rossiglione and Tiglieto), that belongs to the National “Strategia Aree Interne Beigua SOL”. These three Valleys are part of the Beigua Regional Natural Park, Unesco Geopark. The area is connect to the coast and the county seat through railways, motorway and a county road but these services are not sufficient to meet the needs of inhabitants. A relevant percentage of citizens are commuters (workers or students). Therefore, the main need is the improvement of accessibility and transport