Policies blocking or boosting digital transformation will play a pivotal role in the future of agriculture, forestry and rural areas. Different policy documents and strategies highlight both the significant impacts that digitisation and disruptive technologies might have in rural areas, and the challenges and impacts of these technologies in the EU territories.

In this sense, the Horizon 2020 project DESIRA is developing a Policy Roadmap that addresses the main obstacles and policy gaps identified, and aligns the digital game changers in agriculture, forestry and rural life to societal needs. It will propose building blocks and policy pathways to support smart, inclusive and sustainable digitisation of rural areas.

To contribute to this Roadmap, AEIDL, in collaboration with the University of Pisa and the University of Cordoba, is organising the 3rd Rural Digitalisation Forum meeting. The DESIRA EU Rural Digitalisation Forum (RDF) is an open EU-wide community of stakeholders with a common interest in working, learning and sharing knowledge about the digitalisation of agriculture, forestry and rural areas.

During the event, which will take place online on 15 November 2022, participants will support the identification of policy gaps and areas needing attention, as well as the necessary actions to foster digitisation in rural areas. Specifically, the meeting is aimed at:

• Presenting the preliminary results of DESIRA with regard to the analysis of policies in the different member countries of the consortium, as well as the draft synthesis report and Policy Roadmap.
• Identifying key policy priority actions and topics to guide a sustainable digital transformation of the agri-food sector and rural areas.
• Exchanging experiences, knowledge, good practices and policy actions at local, national, and European levels.

All the information is available on the DESIRA website.