EU funded project dRural crosses the finish line with the final event on digital transformation in rural areas and the p
The dRural project, aimed at fostering the digitalisation of services in European rural regions marked its conclusion through a live event on digital transformation during the EU week of regions and cities, held in Brussels. The final meeting that followed the event was the occasion to present the project's results and exploitation pathways.
On 10 October, during the EU Week of Regions and Cities, the dRural project held its final event. This, entitled "Creating an Inclusive Digital Transformation: Unlocking the Potential of Smart Rural Ecosystems" aimed to shed light on the innovative solutions developed to boost rural ecosystems. The panel discussion was organised in collaboration with dRural's sister project AURORAL and the Healthchain project. All three initiatives share a commitment to enhancing the digital infrastructure of rural areas across Europe, and the panel was the occasion to show relevant results and lessons learned. The event drew an audience of 100 participants, including stakeholders from across the EU, eager to learn about the future of rural digitalisation.
In conjunction with the final event, the project's partners convened for the last consortium meeting in two half days on 10 and 11 October, providing an opportunity to review the project's outcomes and discuss the next steps in its post-project journey. The project successfully implemented the platform in three demonstrator regions and supported eight replicators (mirror regions)—11 regions across Europe overall. Only in the demo regions of Dubrovnik-Neretva (Croatia), Gelderland Midden (Netherlands) and Extremadura (Spain) a total of 1387 services providers digitalised their business thanks to dRural or were involved in the project and 221 SMEs build an ecosystem of users. 56 municipalities overall in the three demonstrator regions were reached by the dRural platform.
"Today, digitisation is not a luxury but a necessity."—Stated Myriam Martin, dRural's project coordinator. "While the most peripheral areas of Europe are emptying due to a lack of services, with dRural we have shown that it is possible to support local inhabitants and economies, allowing people to continue living in rural areas. A lot can still be done, but the interest and results in the 11 regions involved in dRural show that this is the right way to go."
Key topics of discussion during the consortium's final meeting included how to maximise the impact of the project's results and future pathways for the further development of the marketplaces in the regions involved in dRural. In the meantime, the project's know-how and legacy are being transmitted to the partners of the SmartEra project through a series of replication workshops, as well as through info-packs, a position paper, the dRural Academy, and many other communication and dissemination formats.
The dRural project will officially come to an end at the close of October. In the last few weeks, informative materials, including the final video, will be published on the dRural website and distributed through multiplicators and the project channels.
For more information, contact:
Coordinator: Myriam Martín, TICbiomed, myriam.martin@ticbiomed.net
Communication Officer: Federica Fusco, ICONS, federica.fusco@icons.it
Project website: Homepage—dRural
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/drural/
Youtube: dRural project—YouTube
Provided by iCube Programme