Smart rural communities develop community-centred solutions to tackle local challenges supported by digital solutions to improve quality of life.
Many rural areas in the Danube Region face various social, economic and environmental challenges: An ageing population, brain-drain, lack of connectivity, underdeveloped infrastructure, lack of employment opportunities and limited access to services reduce the quality of life.
Likewise, rural areas are crucial in reaching the goals of the European Union’s green and digital transition as well as the goals of EU accession in the candidate countries.
Hence, Smart Rural Communities (or Smart Villages) reconcile local participatory governance and digitalisation in order to create opportunities for sustainable development and more attractive rural areas, such as sustainable agriculture and forestry, better civil protection management, developing new job opportunities, improve service provision or contributing to improved distribution of services and industries.
Macro-regional cooperation on smart communities
Despite different geographical features across the four macro-regions, rural areas face similar challenges. Hence, the macro-regional strategies for the Alpine Region, the Baltic Sea Region, the Adriatic-Ionian Region, and the Danube Region committed to work together to strengthen capacities for smart community development across all four macro-regions.
