Bridging the digital divide and addressing the need of Rural Communities with Cost-effective and Environmental-Friendly Connectivity Solutions

Project Information

COMMECT

Grant agreement ID: 101060881

DOI

10.3030/101060881

Project closed

EC signature date 3 June 2022

Start date 1 September 2022

End date 31 August 2025

Funded under

• Food, Bioeconomy Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment

Total cost

€ 4 999 558,75

EU contribution

€ 4 999 558,75

Coordinated by

LUXEMBOURG INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Luxembourg

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - COMMECT (Bridging the digital divide and addressing the need of Rural Communities with Cost-effective and Environmental-Friendly Connectivity Solutions)

Reporting period: 2022-09-01 to 2024-02-29

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Rural and remote areas remain largely unconnected to the Internet as they face several challenges, ranging from the obvious ones - lower population density, greater distances, and rough terrain – to the less obvious ones that greatly affect the success of the deployment process: policies, regulations, cost of deployment, difficulty in attracting investment, lack of technical knowledge to select the most appropriate connectivity, and more. As recognized by the EU, digital access is an imperative to ensure that every citizen has an equal opportunity to thrive. Reliable high-speed broadband connectivity is therefore a primary need for the sustainability of rural communities, to improve their lives in the immediate as well as the long-term.

COMMECT aims at bridging the digital divide, by providing quality, reliable, and secure access for all in rural and remote areas. The goal of extending broadband connectivity in rural and remote areas is achieved by integrating Non-Terrestrial Networks with terrestrial cellular XG networks, and low-cost Internet of Things (IoT). Artificial Intelligence (AI), Edge and Network Automation are also exploited for reducing energy consumption both at connectivity and computing level.

COMMECT objectives are totally aligned with the EU Rural vision, by having the final aim of making rural areas and communities stronger, connected, resilient and prosperous.

OBJ_1: Empower rural and remote communities and train them toward digitalization

OBJ_2: Increase competitiveness of rural communities and give them access to new services and business opportunities.

OBJ_3: Facilitate decision-making in the selection of the most appropriate Internet connectivity.

OBJ_4: Contribute to climate change mitigation and increase resilience and sustainability of rural communities

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

In the first phase of the project, the consortium focused specifically on identifying needs of end-users and understanding the socio-economic and environmental factors that currently impede digitalization of rural areas and populations.
Several workshops and interviews were organised during which the technical members of the consortium -- researchers, social scientists, Telecom and SatCom Operators, closely discussed with farmers, and forestry associations, farmers advisors, rural communities, and other relevant cross-sectorial actors. End-users shared their practical knowledge and described the challenges (“pains”) that they currently face in their daily work and life. The technical partners, together with SSH and business experts identified possible connectivity solutions that could improve end-users’ activities, making them more efficient and sustainable, or create new business opportunities (“gains”).

From the exchange of scientific and practical knowledge in the Living Labs, by engaging with many end-users, and stakeholders external to the project, the consortium defined a set of relevant use cases, which have driven the following development and implementation phases of the project.
The goal of extending broadband connectivity in rural and remote areas has been achieved integrating Non-Terrestrial Networks (satellites and UAVs) with terrestrial 5G/4G/3G, cellular and non-cellular IoT (NB-IoT, LoRa, eMTC). Using a network orchestrator (namely the Intelligent Connectivity Platform, ICP), network resources should be made available dynamically according to the evolution of technologies and services. The service requirements considered in the design of the connectivity solutions reflect end-users and stakeholder expectations.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

1. Creation of the Living Labs ecosystem
COMMECT has established 5 Living Labs covering five different sectors in five countries: Viticulture in Luxembourg, Forestry in Norway, Livestock Transport in Denmark, Olive Tree farming in Türkiye and sustainable agriculture and preservation of natural environment in Serbia.
In each Living Lab, the project partners have engaged with end-users and stakeholders, and exchanged knowledge, expertise and best practice, to co-create together connectivity solutions which can create a valuable impact for the different rural and remote areas and communities.

2. Impact Assessment Framework and Business Models
COMMECT has developed 11 (initial) collaborative business models, which describe how stakeholders for the Living Labs can support the deployment and value creation through connectivity-enabled use cases. These business models include 1) a description of the role of stakeholders in doing so, 2) a narrative of how the connectivity-enabled use case is used by end-users and how this contributes to value creation, and 3) a first qualitative evaluation of how stakeholders capture value in return (as part of its business case). Accordingly, the business models describe how concrete stakeholders for the Living Labs intend to realize the connectivity-enabled use cases in practice and how this is supported through a sound business logic and business case.

3. Decision-Making Support Tool (DST)
COMMECT has designed and is implementing a DST tool that will support end users (such as farmers, forest operators, municipalities, etc.) and stakeholders (IoT service providers, transport companies, forest machineries operators, etc.) to select and implement digital technologies in their farms, in the region, in their business, and in general.
The tool is leveraging Generative AI/LLM (Artificial Intelligence/ Large Language Model) as the underlying technology, which is used in favour of traditional approaches based on wizards and multiple-choice options. In addition, instead of using public knowledge to provide answers, the COMMECT DST strongly relies on the lessons learnt from the Living Labs, on information and knowledge provided by the project (deliverables), and sources selected and curated by the project partners to generate responses.
A first release of the COMMECT DST is made public available at: https://decision-support-tool.dunavnet.eu/

COMMECT Concept and Methodology

COMMECT Visual Icon: digital connected rural communities

COMMECT Living Labs MAP