Digitisation: Economic and Social Impacts in Rural Areas

Project Information

DESIRA

Grant agreement ID: 818194

DOI

10.3030/818194

Project closed

EC signature date 3 May 2019

Start date 1 June 2019

End date 31 May 2023

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine, maritime and inland water research, and the bioeconomy

Total cost

€ 4 991 503,45

EU contribution

€ 4 990 128,45

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITA DI PISA
Italy

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - DESIRA (Digitisation: Economic and Social Impacts in Rural Areas)

Reporting period: 2022-06-01 to 2023-05-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

DESIRA addresses the issues of the socio-economic impact of digitization in agriculture, forestry and rural areas. Digitisation has deep repercussions on people’s lives and generates losers (who are marginalized by the changes) and opponents (who resist and elaborate alternative rules of the game), as well as winners (who benefit from the change). There is a general tendency to highlight only the opportunities of digitization and underestimate the threats and negative impacts. In rural areas, the risks of negative impacts are higher than in urban areas, as there are infrastructural, social and human capital reasons that contribute to create a deep digital divide between territories. As 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.
The objectives of DESIRA are the following:
1: to fill the socio-economic knowledge gaps on digitisation 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.
2: to assess the past and current socio-economic impact of digitisation in relation to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by carrying out, disseminating and communicating a participatory Socio-Economic Impact Assessment of digitisation based on an innovative assessment methodology.
3: to improve the capacity of rural communities to reflect on future risks and opportunities related to digitisation by co-creating, disseminating and communicating a set of rural digitisation scenarios, and by developing Use Cases and two Showcase technologies including a Virtual Farm Platform, adopting Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI)-based value sensitive solutions.
4: to improve the capacity of rural communities to reap the opportunities offered by digitisation and to improve resilience to related hazards by identifying and assessing existing policy instruments, by developing a Policy Roadmap, and by promoting the embodiment of an Ethical Code into private and public innovation strategies.
5: 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 exchange and easy and open access to research findings.
6: to increase the uptake of societal concerns in ICT-related policy and innovation, and to align digitisation scenarios with societal needs and expectations through an effective Exploitation, dissemination, communication and outreach strategy.

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

DESIRA has published a Conceptual Framework that has embodied the lessons learned from the empirical work and from the “participatory theory building” activities. A report on the taxonomy of digital game changers provides a guideline for operators to navigate into the complex set of available digital tools and their application scenarios. A knowledge engine – Gnomee - has been developed on its basis and refined during the 3rd reporting period.
With the analysis of the link between broadband coverage and economic growth, DESIRA has given a contribution to the development of a Rural Digitisation Index. It has also provided a list of selected Socio-Economic Sustainability Indicators, linked to the Sustainable Development Goals, that can be used to benchmark the impact of digitalization in rural areas. Moreover, DESIRA has analysed the barriers and constraints to digitalisation in relation to local needs and expectations in 20 local contexts.
After having identified needs and expectations of the respective communities, DESIRA Living Labs have carried out participatory activities finalized to build scenario narratives related to digitalisation. Use cases, developed on the basis of the findings of five Living Labs, have allowed DESIRA researchers to develop and test a transdisciplinary method for the analysis of the application scenarios for digital technologies in agriculture, rural areas, and forestry.
A policy analysis and roadmap report has been developed and refined through interaction with policy makers at regional, national, and EU level. The Ethical Code proposes a set of values to which, in the view of DESIRA, technology developers should inspire when they design digital technologies and apply for funding.
Through its dissemination and communication activities, based on several scientific papers, newsletters, policy briefs, practice abstracts, social media posts, in-person events DESIRA has generated wide attention to the themes of sustainable rural digitalisation, and consolidated a broader network, the Rural Digitalisation Forum, which will continue to operate on the legacy of DESIRA main messages. DESIRA has also provided an exploitation strategy that will ensure sustainability of the outputs.

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)

DESIRA has provided evidence to show that the digital divide is a dynamic process. On one hand, the structural disadvantages that rural areas suffer are multiplied by the unequal outcomes of market-driven digitalisation. On the other hand, the pace of technological innovation can undermine the efforts of rural communities to catch up.
We have identified three drivers of impact of digitalisation: a) design; b) (lack of ) access; c) complexity. Acting upon these drivers through co-design with rural communities is a way to achieve sustainable development goals, especially in the field of quality of work, gender balance, education, environment.
For these reasons, investments in physical and human infrastructures are necessary, but not sufficient. A proactive approach to anticipate the negative effects of digitalisation and to intervene in the most vulnerable realities is needed.

DESIRA has provided evidence that digital solutions can be game-changers for rural areas, for example in the field of environmental risk management, in the transparency of the supply chains, in the provision of public services, in keeping agricultural activities alive in many rural contexts. For example, robotics in the field of horticulture is seen as a remedy for the lack of labour force and the aging of the existing one. Crowdsourcing information related to fires or landslides can support risk management agencies. Local digital platforms can help to keep a community alive by providing news, a space for interaction, and digital services.
To develop these solutions, a co-design approach to technology development is needed, based on fora where users, developers, stakeholders, and policymakers are able to interact to address rural needs and expectations. DESIRA has applied this approach in its 21 Living Labs, and has contributed to consolidate it both conceptually and methodologically.

DESIRA has also found that despite the strong emphasis at EU level to foster sustainable digitalisation, and dedicated resources, implementation at national level is lagging. Administrative and academic silos, obsolete governance, lack of competencies and skills at the local level, and lack of coordination between different programs leave many of the objectives unfulfilled. A combination of top-down and bottom-up measures is needed. Rural digitalisation should be strategically driven and monitored by dedicated agents.

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