Periodic Reporting for period 1 - AURORAL (Architecture for Unified Regional and Open digital ecosystems for Smart Communities and wider Rural Areas Large scale application)
Reporting period: 2021-01-01 to 2022-06-30
Lower population and business density make developing private businesses and public services in rural areas more challenging, negatively impacting socioeconomic indicators. To address the issue, AURORAL focuses on delivering a digital ecosystem based on openness, multi-interoperability, and decentralisation, to sustain the Smart transformation of communities, thus, providing essential services and jobs and reducing the digital divide between rural and urban areas.
The project moves on two main drivers, digital and socio-economical. The first focuses on up-taking tested solutions to deliver the AURORAL "Interoperable Data Brokerage Middleware", which aims to integrate existing and new smart products and services. That will enable the creation of new markets in emerging regions, particularly ones with lower digital and socio-economical density, geographically diverse, sparsely populated, extensive, remote, or rural.
The second driver leads to creating a dense network of Smart Communities that will co-design and implement a joint investment platform to support their Smart transformation, bundling funds from different sources to unlock 50 million EUR. Operating in articulation with AURORAL open calls, the Investment Platform contributes to expanding the project results' impact, validating the technological innovations, and giving it the critical scale to succeed.
Along with that, AURORAL will support the creation of a vibrant ecosystem of co-developers, service providers, and user communities to co-design and co-implement smart innovations based on active interoperability, enhanced security, and data transparency. In this perspective, AURORAL aims to enable Smart Learning Communities and expand the ecosystem of involved partners and local players, opening further investment opportunities.
The AURORAL consortium unites 25 partners from 10 European countries, including 8 Pilot regions: Alentejo (PT), Penedès (ES), Piedmont (IT), Southern Burgenland (AT), Västerbotten (SE), Lapland (FI), and Hålogaland and Nordland (NO). They demonstrate digital innovations at a large scale in two types of pilots, use cases and demonstrators. The firsts focus on reaching higher readiness levels of targeted-domain solutions (Farming, Energy, Mobility, Health, Tourism). The seconds apply a cross-domain approach, using the AURORAL Middleware to integrate and implement those targeted solutions.
The project moves on two main drivers, digital and socio-economical. The first focuses on up-taking tested solutions to deliver the AURORAL "Interoperable Data Brokerage Middleware", which aims to integrate existing and new smart products and services. That will enable the creation of new markets in emerging regions, particularly ones with lower digital and socio-economical density, geographically diverse, sparsely populated, extensive, remote, or rural.
The second driver leads to creating a dense network of Smart Communities that will co-design and implement a joint investment platform to support their Smart transformation, bundling funds from different sources to unlock 50 million EUR. Operating in articulation with AURORAL open calls, the Investment Platform contributes to expanding the project results' impact, validating the technological innovations, and giving it the critical scale to succeed.
Along with that, AURORAL will support the creation of a vibrant ecosystem of co-developers, service providers, and user communities to co-design and co-implement smart innovations based on active interoperability, enhanced security, and data transparency. In this perspective, AURORAL aims to enable Smart Learning Communities and expand the ecosystem of involved partners and local players, opening further investment opportunities.
The AURORAL consortium unites 25 partners from 10 European countries, including 8 Pilot regions: Alentejo (PT), Penedès (ES), Piedmont (IT), Southern Burgenland (AT), Västerbotten (SE), Lapland (FI), and Hålogaland and Nordland (NO). They demonstrate digital innovations at a large scale in two types of pilots, use cases and demonstrators. The firsts focus on reaching higher readiness levels of targeted-domain solutions (Farming, Energy, Mobility, Health, Tourism). The seconds apply a cross-domain approach, using the AURORAL Middleware to integrate and implement those targeted solutions.
AURORAL started in January 2021 with an online Kick-off meeting in the presence of the Project Officers, Olavi Luotonen (DG-CONNECT) and Doris Marquardt (DG AGRI). AURORAL's Design phase (M01-M06) focused on setting up the appropriate project governance, and the nine management-related deliverables reflect those achievements. Also, with the WP2, the project started assessing the existing European digital ecosystems, organising workshops for Smart Villages and rural ecosystems, as documented in the "Baseline for digitalised rural ecosystems in Europe" report.
During the period, all pilots have set up the local pilot governance structure and organised local activities with stakeholders and the other relevant actors following the Stakeholder Engagement Plan.
The most prominent event of the first semester was the European Regions for Smart Communities Summit 2021, organised by the project coordinator with the support of CCDRA and WP9's leader IRRADIARE. The Summit 2021 was part of the Agenda of the Portuguese Presidency of the EU and integrated with the overall effort of promoting Living-in.EU. It took place in Évora (Alentejo, Portugal) and online in May 2021, with the collaboration of several projects, notably the H2020-dRural project. Since then, the Summit gathers European, national, regional, and local stakeholders yearly to discuss co-promoting Smart Communities for a better tomorrow.
The Summit's second edition took place in May 2022 in collaboration with about 30 partners from 12 EU Member States, the H2020-dRural project, in close cooperation with the Living-in.EU initiative and with Committee of Region’s RegHub initiative with its 46 member regions. The Summit led to the establishment of the Alentejo Protocol 2022, which provides a pre-standard definition of the Smart Community concept discussed, participated, and contributed by the entire community of practice. The Summit has the presence of the President of the Committee of Regions, Commissioner Breton, and Commissioner Ferreira (in person), the DG-Connect Technologies for Smart Communities' Head of Unit, and many members of the Portuguese Government, European Parliament and the majority of Mayors from the hosting pilot region, Alentejo, with the Region's President and Vice-presidents welcoming the 63 regions.
All those activities, discussions, and meetings supported the in-depth status analysis of the pilots, presented in "Demonstration plan for AURORAL ecosystems". The plan defined the transition from the Design to the Implementation phase (M07 – M24) when the more technical WPs started.
The WP3 and WP4 activities develop the AURORAL architecture, prioritising privacy, decentralisation, and data management and modelling. The pilots' involvement in understanding the system's overall functionality has been addressed with ad-hoc meetings between technical partners and pilot representatives to make it easy to understand, use, replicate, and upscale.
Those sessions enabled the WP5, which coordinates the pilot sites' activities, to produce a homogeneous view and information of the pilots, allowing a shared understanding and monitoring of AURORAL's approach to fulfilling their objectives.
During the period, all pilots have set up the local pilot governance structure and organised local activities with stakeholders and the other relevant actors following the Stakeholder Engagement Plan.
The most prominent event of the first semester was the European Regions for Smart Communities Summit 2021, organised by the project coordinator with the support of CCDRA and WP9's leader IRRADIARE. The Summit 2021 was part of the Agenda of the Portuguese Presidency of the EU and integrated with the overall effort of promoting Living-in.EU. It took place in Évora (Alentejo, Portugal) and online in May 2021, with the collaboration of several projects, notably the H2020-dRural project. Since then, the Summit gathers European, national, regional, and local stakeholders yearly to discuss co-promoting Smart Communities for a better tomorrow.
The Summit's second edition took place in May 2022 in collaboration with about 30 partners from 12 EU Member States, the H2020-dRural project, in close cooperation with the Living-in.EU initiative and with Committee of Region’s RegHub initiative with its 46 member regions. The Summit led to the establishment of the Alentejo Protocol 2022, which provides a pre-standard definition of the Smart Community concept discussed, participated, and contributed by the entire community of practice. The Summit has the presence of the President of the Committee of Regions, Commissioner Breton, and Commissioner Ferreira (in person), the DG-Connect Technologies for Smart Communities' Head of Unit, and many members of the Portuguese Government, European Parliament and the majority of Mayors from the hosting pilot region, Alentejo, with the Region's President and Vice-presidents welcoming the 63 regions.
All those activities, discussions, and meetings supported the in-depth status analysis of the pilots, presented in "Demonstration plan for AURORAL ecosystems". The plan defined the transition from the Design to the Implementation phase (M07 – M24) when the more technical WPs started.
The WP3 and WP4 activities develop the AURORAL architecture, prioritising privacy, decentralisation, and data management and modelling. The pilots' involvement in understanding the system's overall functionality has been addressed with ad-hoc meetings between technical partners and pilot representatives to make it easy to understand, use, replicate, and upscale.
Those sessions enabled the WP5, which coordinates the pilot sites' activities, to produce a homogeneous view and information of the pilots, allowing a shared understanding and monitoring of AURORAL's approach to fulfilling their objectives.
With the deployment of the AURORAL reference architecture a first development phase is completed for integration of innovative services, so validating middleware implementation. Integration provides also feedback for continuously updating AURORAL architecture and middleware. Analysis of the requirements for interoperability, security, privacy, and data sovereignty and identification of vertical and horizontal tools and services needed to meet pilots' requirements led to the first internal drafts of the AURORAL "Data Interoperability Brokerage Middleware" and the related "AURORAL Service Store".
Additionally, AURORAL actively cooperates with different projects and platforms, such as the Living-in.EU movement by developing inter-institutional and cross-project cooperation efforts in establishing baseline KPIs for measuring the performance of Smart Communities. This work contributes to the adaptation and extension of Smart Community-oriented platforms, namely the services marketplace, in line with the specifications and KPIs for its performance assessment under WP7. Under this perspective, the WP7 leader followed closely the work implemented by other WPs, especially WP3, and took part in the meetings with partners and the H2020-dRural project to systematise and harmonise frameworks and collection of KPIs.
Similarly, preparatory actions started under WP8 to address pilots' requirements for developing a sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystem and investment platform for Smart Communities. Further discussion on the legal and operational structure of the SmarTommorrow investment platform is expected to be central in the upcoming period, along with preparing for the project's Open calls.
Additionally, AURORAL actively cooperates with different projects and platforms, such as the Living-in.EU movement by developing inter-institutional and cross-project cooperation efforts in establishing baseline KPIs for measuring the performance of Smart Communities. This work contributes to the adaptation and extension of Smart Community-oriented platforms, namely the services marketplace, in line with the specifications and KPIs for its performance assessment under WP7. Under this perspective, the WP7 leader followed closely the work implemented by other WPs, especially WP3, and took part in the meetings with partners and the H2020-dRural project to systematise and harmonise frameworks and collection of KPIs.
Similarly, preparatory actions started under WP8 to address pilots' requirements for developing a sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystem and investment platform for Smart Communities. Further discussion on the legal and operational structure of the SmarTommorrow investment platform is expected to be central in the upcoming period, along with preparing for the project's Open calls.
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