Euromontana has worked on the Smart Villages concept since 2017 as member of the European Network for Rural Development’s Thematic Group on the topic.

Through the Horizon 2020 project SIMRA (Social Innovation in Marginalised Rural Areas), Euromontana also contributed to broaden the definition of the concept, by advocating that the Smart Villages approach should not be limited to digital innovation and should pay greater attention to social innovation, which has a considerable potential for territorial development, social cohesion, services provision and green transition in mountain areas. This approach was also reflected in the event “How can Social Innovation Help Villages become Smarter?” co-organised by Euromontana and the European Parliament’s former intergroup RUMRA in July 2018.

Within the current parliamentary term, Euromontana is also a founding and supporting organisation of the European Parliament’s intergroup RUMRA & Smart Villages, which advocates for a digital and sustainable transition in rural, mountainous and remotes areas.

Euromontana contributes to demonstrating how the approach can support the sustainable development of mountain villages. Euromontana intends to increase the uptake the approach in rural and mountainous communities by also sharing inspiring examples from the Interreg Alpine Space Smart Villages project and other inspiring initiatives from mountain areas (see in particular our good practices “Cozzano: a sustainably Smart Village” and “Smart Village Scotland: Web communities for Scotland’s rural towns and villages”).