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Rural broadband - Challenges and opportunities

09-07-2020

Rural broadband - Challenges and opportunities

The economic competitiveness of regions, and notably rural regions, depends on good connectivity. This means not just roads and railways, but also internet highways. Connectivity to fast internet in rural areas is still almost half of what it is on average in the EU. Despite some progress, the gap is not narrowing. Things are moving in the right direction, but the European Commission's objective to have 100% of Europeans, including in rural areas, connected to fast internet by 2020 will not be met. In an effort to ensure rural areas are not left behind and their populations have access to high-quality jobs, the Commission has put in place an Action Plan for Rural Broadband.

One crucial element is to connect the recently-formed 'Broadband Competence Offices' (BCOs) with rural stakeholders. Only by connecting BCOs to the main actors dealing with specific hurdles encountered at rural level can the digital divide be addressed.

The BCO Network has worked closely over the last few years with 'Smart Villages'. The Smart Villages concept is about improving economic performance and quality of life in rural areas, potentially via digital and other technologies. Smart Village inhabitants gain access to knowledge, markets, social and cultural services, technologies and infrastructure that are usually only accessible to urban residents. It is not possible to have a Smart Village without broadband.

Join this EURACTIV two-panel Virtual Conference to discuss how the urban-rural broadband gap can be narrowed more quickly. The second panel will be devoted to how rural broadband can help the agricultural sector grow and become more competitive in a sustainable way. The rise of digital farming technologies has opened a wealth of new data for farmers. Remote sensors, satellites and drones can monitor plant health, soil conditions, temperature, nitrogen utilisation and much more - 24/7. Artificial Intelligence-based tools can analyse this overwhelming amount of data at high speeds and funnel it back to farmers in the form of useful insights, helping them make critical, timely, and in-field decisions. All this can only happen with rural broadband.

Watch the full event here

Supported by:

Location

Online

Panellists

PANEL 1: Closing the urban-rural digital gap - The case for 'Smart Villages'


Janusz Wojciechowski, EU Commissioner for Agriculture
Franc Bogovic MEP, Chair, RUMRA & Smart Villages Intergroups; Member, REGI Committee, European Parliament
Harald Gruber, Projects Head of Division of Digital Infrastructure, European Investment Bank (EIB)
Abraham Liu, Chief Representative to the European Institutions, Huawei

PANEL 2: Rural broadband and digital farming


Elsi Katainen MEP, Vice-Chair, AGRI Committee, European Parliament
Robert Henkel, Policy Officer, Investment in High-Capacity Networks, DG CNECT, European Commission
Pekka Pesonen, Secretary-General, COPA-COGECA

Moderator

Jennifer Baker, Journalist, EURACTIV

Schedule

09:30 – 09:40 Introduction and House rules
09:40 – 10:30 Panel 1
10:30 – 10:35 Quick break
10:35 – 11:30 Panel 2

Contact

Teresa Dominguez
teresa.dominguez@euractiv.com
+32 (0) 2 788 36 93

Related article

EIB official: €200 billion needed to build broadband infrastructure in EU rural areas

EIB official: €200 billion needed to build broadband infrastructure in EU rural areas

In order for citizens in Europe’s rural areas to have broadband access to at least 100 megabits per second, approximately €200 billion will be needed, according to Harald Gruber from the European Investment Bank (EIB).

Highlights video