ASP Project proposal “Smart Villages”

Background The macroregional strategy for the alpine region EUSALP was formally launched in 2015. Nine action groups were installed to implement the strategy. Action group 5, which is lead by Valle d’Aosta and SAB, is in charge of the topic “To connect people electronically and promote accessibility to public services”. Each of the nine AG’s is requested to develop strategic initiatives. AG5 identified amongst others the topic of smart villages as a strategic initiative. AG5 therefore wants to submit an ASP proposal for the third call to implement this strategic initiative. The EU-context The European commission pushes hard on digitalization. It presented amongst others a communication on smart villages in order to avoid a digital divide and to implement the Cork declaration 2.0 from September 2016. In it’s document “EU Action for smart villages” the commission defines smart villages as: The emerging concept of Smart Villages refers to rural areas and communities which build on their existing strengths and assets as well as on developing new opportunities. In Smart Villages traditional and new networks and services are enhanced by means of digital, telecommunication technologies, innovations and the better use of knowledge, for the benefit of inhabitants and businesses. Digital technologies and innovations may support quality of life, higher standard of living, public services for citizens, better use of resources, less impact on the environment, and new opportunities for rural value chains in terms of products and improved processes. The concept of Smart Villages does not propose a one-size-fits-all solution. It is territorially sensitive, based on the needs and potentials of the respective territory and strategy-led, supported by new or existing territorial strategies. A Smart Village would typically pay attention to e-literacy skills, access to e-health and other basic services, innovative solutions for environmental concerns, circular economy application to agricultural waste, promotion of local products supported by technology and ICT, implementing and taking full benefit of smart specialisation agri-food projects, tourism and cultural activities, etc.

The commission strives to implement this concept through it’s various policies, such as the ERDF, the CAP and Horizon 2020. The activities of AG5 of EUSALP are completely in line with the ambitions of the Commission. With the project „Smart villages“, AG5 wants therefore to contribute to the implementation of the goals of the Commission and to respond to a real need from mountain people. With the project “Smart villages”, the alpine regions want to be at the forefront of new opportunities offered by digitalization.

This concept note serves as a first draft to contact potential partners of the project. The Expression of Interest EoI will be developed in common by all partners and has to be submitted by 28.6.2017.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION 1.1 What are the common territorial challenges and/or joint assets that will be tackled by the project? Digitalization offers huge opportunities for (remote) rural areas. Digitalization can help to overcome the handicaps of distances, can help to access new markets through new channels, can help to create a positive image of a region, can help to increase the attractiveness of a territory, to create a new learning ecosystem and to create new job and business opportunities. To take benefit of these opportunities and not to let the digital divide become even greater but to place rural areas even as forerunners of these opportunities is of strategic importance for the alpine area. Whereas for centers and agglomerations in Europe many initiatives in the domain of Smart Cities do exist, it is not yet so common in rural alpine areas. Some interesting initiatives do exist such as the “digitale Dörfer” in Germany or the project “Mia Engiadina” in Switzerland or …... But most discussions in rural areas focus only on the aspect of digital infrastructures and not on concepts how to use the potentials of digitalization and to derive from that only in a second phase the appropriate digital infrastructure. Primarily, the approach of the project smart villages shall be user driven. Therefore the user needs are in the focus of the project and new ways of providing services have to be sought. Digital technologies and the related management models translate into better public services for citizens, better use of resources and less impact on the environment and are therefore very beneficiary for mountainous areas too. On the second hand, the approach of the project smart village foster the development of service providers. The public authorities can look for new ways in organizing services to grant sustainability on the territories. Smart village can be also an opportunity to attract new businesses and to specialize people and local SME’s in remote areas. Starting from the fact that they can be at the same time consumers and providers, they will be able to develop the most suitable services for the community in which they live. The concept of smart villages is very broad. It encompasses topics such as energy supply, E-health, smart business, public transport, education and so on. Each territory has different pre-conditions and different needs and possibilities in these various fields. The project “Smart villages” will therefore not prescribe to the territories, on which topics they have to work precisely. “Smart villages” will rather provide a list of potential topics to choose from. The various solutions applied in each participating territory will bring forward a wealth of information useful to identify commonalities but also diversity.

1.2 What is the project’s approach and why is transnational cooperation needed to address these common challenges and/or joint assets? What is innovative about the project’s approach? How is this reflected in the project activities? Local authorities and municipalities taking part in the smart villages project are common in their differences. However they lack the resources to develop in this field for their own. Synergies and collaboration in an alpine network, involving private and public institutions, is a prerequisite to be successful with this concept. That’s why a transnational approach is needed. The partners of the project will mainly come from regional authorities and research institutes. Nevertheless, the concept of smart villages will be applied on a lower, intermunicipal level such as the former Comunità di montagna in Italy or Leader action groups. In countries with bigger municipalities such as Slovenia, the municipal level may be appropriate. The project starts with regional analyses aimed to describe the smart village ecosystem and to elaborate an innovation vision for the ASP area. In this context synergies with the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Smart Cities and Communities will be sought. In a second step an exchange Platform will be implemented. This Platform will be used to elaborate the innovation vision for the Alpine Space further on. The Platform will be tested on pilot areas located in the Alpine Space and a toolbox “smart villages” will be elaborated. Finally a development vision and final step-by-step roadmap will be developed with the inhabitants of the test areas and policy recommendations are outlined by evaluating pilot projects’ results and effects. The project was developed by AG5 of EUSALP. There are many linkages to other AG’s of EUSALP, especially AG9 (energy). The Co-leader of AG9 is therefore also partner of the smart villages project and will bring in aspects such as smart energy supply, smart grids etc. The other AG’s will be invited to join the project as observers. The project will not deal only with the building of digital infrastructures. But there’s a close connection to such infrastructures which are a necessary pre-condition for the digitalization. The concept of digitalization is neutral in technology. It is not so important, which technology is available. It is important, that enough capacity is available. In this context, there’s a close linkage e.g. to the new initiative Wifi4EU which shall promote the rollout of Wifi-technologies. AG5 of EUSALP has identified this as a potential quick win in it’s workplan and will also help to promote the Wifi4EU-initiative in the Alps. (?). 2 Project focus 2.1 Project objectives, expected result(s) and outputs Programme priority specific objective Specific Objective 1b.1 - Improve the framework conditions for innovation in the Alpine Space.

Programme result indicator the project will contribute to Level of maturity of framework conditions for generating innovation processes among business, academia and administration. What is the overall objective of the project? How does it contribute to the programme’s objective? The project aims to bring together different stakeholders to improve quality of life in villages and small cities of the Alpine Space through more sustainable integrated solutions facilitated by Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). This includes applied innovation, better planning, a more participatory approach, higher energy efficiency and better transport solutions involving different levels. Which are the specific objectives the project will be working towards? SO 1: To perform regional analyses aimed to describe the smart village ecosystem of the ASP area and the needs of the population. Regional analyses are performed to identify stakeholders, innovation resources, obstacles, opportunities and best practices linked to the Alpine smart village sector and to compare the results transnationally as well as to elaborate a report that illustrates an innovation vision for the ASP area. Synergies and inspiration will be sought to other programs such as the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Smart Cities and Communities. SO 2: To implement an open-source digital smart village Platform. Findings are shared on the digital exchange Platform. The platform will bring together different stakeholders from the field of applied innovation, planning, energy and transport and supports them in transnational knowledge sharing, mutual learning and territorial collaboration. SO 3: To develop a smart village toolbox, a development vision and a step by step roadmap for test areas. In test areas a smart-village-toolbox, a development vision and a step by step roadmap are being developed in a participatory, integrated way involving stakeholders from different sectors and political levels SO 4: To integrate the project results on a higher level. The preceding steps provide the knowledge necessary to define policy recommendations and a step-by-step roadmap for supporting a smart village concept that involves innovation, better planning, a more participatory approach, higher energy efficiency, better transport solutions and intelligent use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). 2.2 Project main outputs Output 1: A transnational report that describes the smart village ecosystem of the ASP area, the needs of the population, specialization and business opportunities.

Output 2: A smart village toolbox, a development vision and a step by step roadmap for test areas. Output 3: An open-source digital exchange Platform Output 4: Policy recommendations 3 Connex to the Macroregional strategy for the Alps EUSALP This project proposal was elaborated within AG5 of EUSALP. AG5 is dealing with digitalization, e-accessibility and accessibility to Services of general interest. Smart villages is considered by AG5 as a strategic initiative which helps to promote the digitialization of the alpine space area, especially in rural areas. 4 Work packages WP1. Project preparation WP2. Project management WP3. Project communication WP4. Regional studies Activities: Identification and common analysis of the Alpine innovation players working in the smart village sector and the innovation resources available in the fields of energy, planning and transport; Identification and analysis of obstacles to the development of smart villages; searching for successful smart village strategies developed by local public authorities of the Alpine Space; analyzing best practices of smart village strategies to identify success factors and activities carried out during the implementation; outline a roadmap to test in the pilot activities WP5. Smart village exchange Platform Activities: Integration of the exchange Platform . The Platform will bring together different stakeholders from the field of applied innovation, planning, energy and transport and supports them in transnational knowledge sharing, mutual learning and territorial collaboration. WP6. Pilot actions Activities: Setting up regional work teams and selecting pilot areas within territories of each project partners; testing the roadmap in each pilot areas; exchanging experience between the regions and test areas and stakeholders within the Alpine region; assessment of needs of different stakeholders. evaluation of the results and effects of each pilot project and elaboration of the final step-by-step roadmap. WP7. Integration of the results on a higher level Activities: Policy recommendations are outlined by evaluating pilot projects’ results and effects.

WP4

WP5 WP6 WP7 WP5

WP2 + 3 2018 2019 2020 Tentative Timeschedule of WPs. The project would start after formal approval in April 2018. Partnership Lead partners:

• ERDF-Lead Partner: Regione Val d’Aosta [Italy] (to be confirmed) • Non-ERDF-Lead partner: SAB [Switzerland]

Have already manifested their interest:

• Regione Lombardia [Italy] • Région Auvergne Rhône-Alpes [France] • Région PACA [France] • Bundesland Tyrol [Austria]

Further potential partners:

• Agentur für Energie Südtirol, South Tyrol [Italy] (as Co-Leadpartner of AG9) • (…)

The other AG’s of EUSALP will be invited to join the project as observers. Draft, as of 20th April 2017 Peter Niederer, Thomas Egger, SAB