H2020 DESIRA Project: Digitalization: Economic and Social Impacts in Rural Areas
- Type Project
- Status Filled
- Execution 2019 -2023
- Assigned Budget 4.990.128,45 €
- Scope Europeo
- Main source of financing Horizon 2020
- Project website Proyecto DESIRA
The successful digitalization of agriculture and rural areas is an absolute priority for the EU. Digital technologies can help address important and urgent economic, social, climate, and environmental challenges facing the EU agri-food sector and rural areas.
The DESIRA project will develop a methodology, and a related online tool, to assess the impact of past, present, and future digitalization trends, using the concept of socio-cyber-physical systems, which connect and transform data, objects, people, plants, and animals. The impact analysis will be directly linked to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and contribute to promoting the principles of Responsible Research and Innovation. With the participation of 25 partners from across Europe, the consortium will organize 20 Living Labs and an EU-level Digital Rural Forum. The project will ultimately contribute to EU-wide policy development.
DESIRA has published a Conceptual Framework that incorporates lessons learned from empirical work and participatory theory development activities. A report on the taxonomy of digital innovators provides a guide for operators to navigate the complex set of available digital tools and their application scenarios. Based on this, a knowledge engine, Gnomee, was developed and refined during the third reporting period.
By analyzing the relationship between broadband coverage and economic growth, DESIRA has contributed to the development of a Rural Digitalization Index. It has also provided a list of selected Socioeconomic Sustainability Indicators, linked to the Sustainable Development Goals, that can be used to assess the impact of digitalization in rural areas. Furthermore, DESIRA has analyzed the barriers and constraints to digitalization in relation to local needs and expectations in 20 local contexts. After identifying the needs and expectations of the respective communities, DESIRA Living Labs conducted participatory activities to develop scenario narratives related to digitalization. The use cases, developed from the findings of five Living Labs, have enabled DESIRA researchers to develop and test a transdisciplinary method for analyzing application scenarios of digital technologies in agriculture, rural areas, and forestry. A policy analysis and roadmap report have been developed and refined through engagement with policymakers at regional, national, and EU levels.
The Code of Ethics proposes a set of values that DESIRA believes technology developers should follow when designing digital technologies and applying for funding. Through its outreach and communication activities, based on various scientific articles, newsletters, policy briefs, practice briefs, social media posts, and in-person events, DESIRA has generated widespread attention on the topics of sustainable rural digitalization and consolidated a broader network, the Rural Digitalization Forum, which will continue to build on the legacy of DESIRA's core messages. DESIRA has also provided an exploitation strategy that will ensure the sustainability of the results.
DESIRA addresses the socioeconomic impact of digitalization on agriculture, forestry, and rural areas. Digitalization has profound repercussions on people's lives and creates losers (who are marginalized by change) and opponents (who resist and develop alternative rules of the game), as well as winners (who benefit from change). There is a general tendency to emphasize only the opportunities of digitalization and to underestimate the threats and negative impacts.
In rural areas, the risks of negative impacts are greater than in urban areas, as infrastructure, social, and human capital factors contribute to a deep digital divide between territories. Since not all threats (and opportunities) can be associated with access conditions, DESIRA will also consider two other sets of conditions: the design of ICT solutions and system complexity. DESIRA's objectives are as follows:
- To bridge socioeconomic knowledge gaps on digitalization in agriculture, rural areas, and forestry through the development, dissemination, and communication of a transdisciplinary Conceptual and Analytical Framework (CAF) and a Taxonomy and Inventory of Digital Game Changers.
- To assess the past and current socioeconomic impact of digitalization in relation to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by conducting, disseminating, and communicating a participatory Socioeconomic Impact Assessment of digitalization based on an innovative evaluation methodology.
- To enhance the capacity of rural communities to reflect on future risks and opportunities related to digitalization by jointly creating, disseminating, and communicating a set of rural digitalization scenarios, and by developing Use Cases and two Sample Technologies, including a Virtual Farm Platform, adopting value-sensitive solutions based on Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI).
- Enhance the capacity of rural communities to take advantage of the opportunities offered by digitalization and improve resilience to related risks by identifying and assessing existing policy instruments, developing a policy roadmap, and promoting the incorporation of a code of ethics into private and public innovation strategies.
- To promote online interaction and learning, complementary to face-to-face interaction, among a wide range of stakeholders through a virtual research environment (VRE), which will provide online tools for knowledge sharing and easy and open access to research results.
- Increase the adoption of social concerns in ICT-related policies and innovations, and align digitalization scenarios with social needs and expectations through an effective exploitation, dissemination, communication, and outreach strategy.
DESIRA will develop the concept of Socio-Cyber-Physical Systems to advance understanding of the impact of digitalization in rural areas, linking the analysis directly to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. By putting the Responsible Research and Innovation approach into practice, DESIRA will engage agricultural, forestry, and rural stakeholders in co-development scenarios and policies in Living Labs established in 20 European regions and a Rural Digitalization Forum bringing together 250 stakeholders from across Europe.
A virtual research environment tailored to the project's purposes will connect all participants and allow for substantially increased interaction within the network. DESIRA will provide a taxonomy and inventory of digital game changers to be implemented in an online visualization tool; a set of socio-economic impact indicators aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals implemented in an online socio-economic impact tool; a pan-European assessment of digitalization in European rural regions; a needs, expectations and impact assessment report; a comparative scenario report based on the scenario development activities of Living Labs and the Rural Digitalization Forum; a policy analysis and roadmap; a code of ethics to be adopted by researchers and innovators and recommended by policymakers; and five use cases that will inform further analysis, co-created by Living Labs with the support of ICT specialists, of the most promising solutions identified by Living Labs; and showcase technologies, including a virtual farm platform, which will create a selection of proofs of concepts suggested by the use cases. A detailed dissemination, participation, and multimedia communication strategy will accompany the project from the outset, considering research as a multifunctional process (research, participation, and communication) and simultaneously involving communication specialists in developing appropriate messages and selecting the most effective media.
DESIRA has provided evidence showing that the digital divide is a dynamic process. On the one hand, the structural disadvantages suffered by rural areas are compounded by the unequal outcomes of market-driven digitalization. On the other hand, the pace of technological innovation can undermine rural communities' efforts to recover. We have identified three factors driving the impact of digitalization: a) design; b) (lack of) access; c) complexity. Addressing these factors through co-design with rural communities is one way to achieve the sustainable development goals, particularly in terms of job quality, gender equality, education, and the environment. For these reasons, investments in physical and human infrastructure are necessary, but not sufficient.
A proactive approach is required to anticipate the negative effects of digitalization and intervene in the most vulnerable situations. DESIRA has provided evidence that digital solutions can be transformative for rural areas, for example, in environmental risk management, supply chain transparency, public service provision, and the maintenance of agricultural activities in many rural contexts. For example, robotics in horticulture is seen as a solution to labor shortages and the aging of existing workforces.
Crowdsourcing on fire or landslide disasters can support risk management agencies. Local digital platforms can contribute to community continuity by providing news, a space for interaction, and digital services. Developing these solutions requires a co-design approach to technology development, based on forums where users, developers, stakeholders, and policymakers can interact to address rural needs and expectations. DESIRA has applied this approach in its 21 Living Labs and has helped consolidate it both conceptually and methodologically. DESIRA has also found that, despite a strong emphasis at the EU level on fostering sustainable digitalization and dedicated resources, national implementation is lagging.
Administrative and academic compartmentalization, outdated governance, a lack of local competencies and skills, and a lack of coordination between different programs prevent the achievement of many of the objectives. A combination of top-down and bottom-up measures is needed. Rural digitalization must be strategically driven and monitored by specialized actors.
- UNIVERSITA DI PISA (UNIPI)
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