On Sunday, September 26, we participated in the roundtable »Smart Villages – Modern Agriculture and high quality of life in rural areas in the era of digitalization« that was organized by Franc Bogovič, member of the European Parliament. The roundtable was part of the programme at the 56. International Fair of Agriculture and Food AGRA: Young farmers are the bearers of changes in modernization of rural areas that took place in Gornja Radgona.
Emilija Stojmenova Duh, PhD, from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Ljubljana, has presented two projects, Smart Villages, funded by Interreg Alpine Space programme and LiveRUR, funded by the programme Horizon 2020.
As she told at the roundtable: “The main question we have to answer is how to use modern technologies to stop the processes of emigration of young people from rural to urban areas. In the project Smart Villages we are dealing with this issue through the use of the so-called living laboratories. We are developing new business models, working on digital transformation and we are helping the municipalities going through the processes of digital transformation. Digitalization actually means to have knowledge, trust, and the skills. Smart Villages are a long-term project and for this we need smart people, smart communities, smart cities, smart decisions and a smart state; and all of them have to work together for the common good.”
