H2020 dRural Project: The services market for European rural areas

The overall objective of dRural is to co-develop and implement a digital solution that provides multiple services to rural residents while creating opportunities for economic growth and improving quality of life. It is then aimed at ensuring the successful operation and sustainability of the project throughout its lifespan and its replication in other European territories.

As such, our aspiration is to become the leading service marketplace for European rural areas. dRural will build a service network for rural areas and communities based on four rural regions in Europe: Extremadura (ES), Dubrovnik-Neretva County (HR), and the Gelderland Midden Region (NL). Each of these scenarios is referred to as a regional demonstrator. Solution creation will follow agile methodologies and ensure co-creation and validation by end-users in each regional demonstrator. Furthermore, dRural will be developed with a "by design" approach to ethics, privacy, and data protection.

Internet coverage will be optimized in the demonstrators to ensure a smooth rollout. The solution will then be implemented in each region, ensuring its customization and adaptation to regional needs and integrating with local service providers. In parallel, an ecosystem of relevant stakeholders will be created in each region around the dRural solution, identifying key stakeholders and current problems, and designing a value proposition for each. The ecosystem-building exercise will be supported by an open call in each demonstrator that will leverage third-party financial support to incentivize adoption of the solution and expand the ecosystem of stakeholders involved.

This will offer opportunities for entrepreneurs by promoting new market openings that will also allow smaller and new players to capture value. An assessment of use and impacts will be conducted to ensure continued support in the region after the project's completion.