Participation process SmartVillages in the Viamala region

Applicable in rural, non city areas

Village

Students, Active working people

January 1, 2016 - ongoing

Implementation

Key conditions for success

• Focus on existing pain points and not "global concepts" • Identification of the right know-how carriers, they do not need a specific «digitization Know-how. • Local contact is very important when choosing the right people / Attendees • Support for the projects of the local participants important for the continuation • Identification of the right topics is crucial • Show participants potential with existing examples. This is very important for the "solution design"

Key steps for activity implementation

We have decided to first filter out 4-5 specific challenges in the region and work out proposals for solutions together with the representatives of the region. With this in mind, a rough analysis was first carried out in cooperation with regional development (particularly the strong networking and local know-how of the regional developer was of great importance here). We have identified 4 themes: • Business / Education • Mobility • Health care • eGovernment We left out topics for which we did not see / found a business strategy (e.g. tourism) The starting point for the individual topics was prepared (in some cases already in the first interviews with know-how carriers) and together with the project partner e-Estonia existing "solution approaches" were developed. identified. These were checked for "compatibility" with the conditions in the Viamala region and there was also a gap analysis - are there needs in the Viamala region that were not covered by the "experiences" of Estonia Based on the initial situation, workshop participants were identified and around Participation in the workshops requested. A workshop and a review (after the consolidation of the results) were carried out for each topic. The reviews ensured that the participants stand behind the draft solution (measures and goals). Fortunately, all local participants spoke out in favor of continuing the project. After the reviews, the measures were presented to the participating municipalities.

Dificulties encountered

Important findings (successes, failures, how was it dealt with, etc.) • Focus on existing pain points and not «global concepts» • Identification of the right know-how bearers (no «digitization know-how necessary) • Local contact very important when choosing the right people / Attendees • Support for the projects of the local participants important for the continuation • Identification of the right topics is crucial • Demonstrate potential to participants with existing examples important for the «solution design» • Missing database; the database for the initial situation is mostly based on outdated statistical evaluations; Data is often not available at all - it was not collected - but this is a decisive factor for the "design" of solutions, in order to be able to take into account the investment and also the long-term sustainability - For this reason, the goal in the further course of the project will be a meaningful one build database

Resources needed

Funds already raised.