(22 February 2022) – The foresight exercise of the DESIRA Rural Digitalisation Forum, through two workshops coordinated by AEIDL on 7 December 2021 and 8 February, brought together 30 experts to define “digital rural areas” by 2040.
The Rural Digitalisation Forum (RDF) is a platform, set up within the DESIRA project, bringing together a wide range of stakeholders working on the digitalisation of rural areas. The RDF aims to be a space for sharing experiences, ideas and recommendations, and communicating them across Europe.
The aim of this foresight exercise was to develop linkages between the DESIRA Living Labs’ scenarios up to 2031 and the Long-Term Vision for rural areas in 2040, by constructing a fifth component: the vision for “digital rural areas”.
Based on the Drivers of Change identified by the DESIRA Living Labs, and following a methodology of building blocks, the RDF experts reflected on what digitisation ambitions to aim for by 2040, what needs to be done to achieve them and why they are desirable.
The outcomes of this exercise will feed the Scenario Planning report, to be delivered by DESIRA by the end of February 2022, and the webinar highlights will be available soon on the DESIRA website.