Project: Assessing the socio-economic impact of digitalisation in rural areas

2019-06-01 – 2023-05-31

Abstract

DESIRA will develop the concept of Socio-Cyber-Physical Systems to advance understanding of the impact of digitisation in rural areas, linking analysis directly to the United Nation’ Sustainable Development Goals. Operationalising the Responsible Research and Innovation approach, DESIRA will enrol agriculture, forestry and rural stakeholders in co-developing scenarios and policies in Living Labs established in 20 European Regions, and a Rural Digitization Forum gathering 250 stakeholders from all Europe. A Virtual Research Environment tailored to the purposes of the project will connect all participants and allow to increase substantially the interaction within the network. DESIRA will provide a Taxonomy and Inventory of Digital Game changers which will be implemented into an online Visualization Tool, a Set of Socio-Economic Impact Indicators aligned to the Sustainability Development Goals implemented into an online Socio-Economic Impact Tool, a Pan-European Assessment of digitization in European rural regions, a Needs, Expectations and Impact appraisal report, a Comparative Scenario Report based on scenario development activities of Living Labs and the Rural Digitization Forum, a Policy analysis and Roadmap, an Ethical Code to be adopted by researchers and innovators and recommended by policy bodies, five Use Cases that will report a further analysis –co-created by Living Labs with the support of ICT specialists - of the most promising solutions identified by Living Labs, Showcase Technologies - including a Virtual Farm Platform - that will create a selection of proof of concepts suggested by Use Cases. A detailed, multi-media dissemination, engagement and communication strategy will accompany the project from the beginning, looking at research as a multifunctional (research, engagement and communication) process and at the same time involving communication specialists in the development of adequate messages and in the choice of the most effective media.