Living labs – instruments of social innovation in rural areas

Tirziu, Andreea-Maria and Vrabie, Catalin (2017): Living labs – instruments of social innovation in rural areas. Published in: Proceedings of the Central and Eastern European e|Dem and e|Gov (CEEEGov) Days 2017 (4 May 2017): pp. 511-523.

Abstract

In a country where nearly half the population lives in rural areas, it is difficult to link concepts such as smart cities, Internet of Things to the local government’s priority list. However, lately there have been numerous initiatives to improve access to information using ICT in the rural communities as well. The purpose of this article is not to exhaustively measure the already adopted means, but merely to provide a series of items retrieved as barriers to ICT projects meant to develop these communities. Following the studies conducted so far (in Romania there are about 2,700 communes – the lowest administrative entities of our country), it was observed that the digital divide is found in 100% of these areas. At the urban level – especially in the big cities, pilot projects for developing digital literacy among the elder population had a relatively high success. Such programs have been initiated at the level of the communes whose living standard is higher (the ones that are located near large cities). Their successes, though certainly less visible than in the urban communities, are noteworthy. Most such programs have targeted educational and health fields. The article we propose aims to show these programs’ implementation degree in Romania, providing as examples the most successful cases that help the social innovation process. The intention with which we start this study is to create a list of objectives that the initiators of these programs have to take into account during the preparation of those programs.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: living labs, social innovation, rural areas
• Subjects: O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O3 - Innovation ; Research and Development ; Technological Change ; Intellectual Property Rights > O35 - Social Innovation

References

1) BALTAC, V., Information technologies – Basic notions, Andreco Educational, Bucharest (2011).

2) BALTAC, V., Miths and reality in the digital world, Excel XXI Books, Bucharest (2016).

3) BOCK, B., Social innovation and sustainability; how to disentangle the buzzword and its application in the field of agriculture and rural development, Studies in Agricultural Economics, no. 114 (2012).

4) BUTKEVIČIENE, E., Social Innovations in Rural Communities: Methodological Framework and Empirical Evidence, Social Sciences, no. 1 (63) (2009).

5) CHRISTMANN, G. – professor and deputy director of the Leibniz Institute for Research on Society and Space, Germany, RurInno project partner, RurInno website, http://rural-innovations.net/articles/2016/5/30/social-innovations-in-rural-regions-launch-of-eu-horizon-2020-project, accessed on December 2016.

6) CONVERY, I. et al., Mainstreaming LEADER delivery of the RDR in Cumbria: an interpretative phenomenological analysis, Sociologia Ruralis, vol. 50, no. 4 (2010).

7) CORDIS (Community Research and Development Information Service), http://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/200385_en.html, accessed on December 2016.

8) ECOMUNITATE PORTAL, http://www.ecomunitate.ro/, accessed on December 2016.

9) EUROPEAN COMMISSION – DIRECTORATE GENERAL FOR THE INFORMATION SOCIETY AND MEDIA, Living Labs for user-driven open innovation. An overview of the living labs methodology, activities and achievements, Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg (2008).

10) EUROPEAN COMMISION WEBSITE, http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/future-networks/funding-schemes_en.html, accessed on December 2016.

11) EUROPEAN NETWORK OF LIVING LABS (ENoLL) WEBSITE, http://www.openlivinglabs.eu/aboutus, http://www.openlivinglabs.eu/ourlabs/Romania, accessed on December 2016.

12) FULLER, M., LOCHARD, A., Public policy labs in European Union Member States, EUR 28044 EN, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg (2016).

13) GOUSCOS, D., MENTZAS, G., GEORGIADIS, P., Planning and implementing e-Government service delivery: achievements and learnings from on-line taxation in Greece, paper presented at the Workshop on e-Government, 8th Panhellenic Conference on Informatics, Nicosia, Cyprus, November 8-10 (2001), cited by STRATIGEA, A., ICTs for rural development: potential applications and barriers involved, Netcom, 25 – 3/4 (2011).

14) HAMMOND, A., PAUL, J., A new model for rural connectivity, World Resources Institute, Development Thought Enterprise (2006), cited by STRATIGEA, A., ICTs for rural development: potential applications and barriers involved, Netcom, 25 – 3/4 (2011).

15) HELLAWELL, S., The Net Result – Social Inclusion in the Information Society, Report of the National Working Party on Social Inclusion (INSINC), IBM United Kingdom Limited, London (1997).

16) KASTELLS, M., The rise of the network society, the information age: economy, society and culture, Volume I, Wiley-Blackwell, West Sussex, UK (2010), cited by STRATIGEA, A., ICTs for rural development: potential applications and barriers involved, Netcom, 25 – 3/4 (2011).

17) LAB CONNECTIONS, http://blogs.ec.europa.eu/eupolicylab/lab-connections/, accessed on December 2016.

18) LIND, M. et al., Integrated broadband development, use and learning in a co-design setting: case study e-Me infrastructure, BIRD Project – Broadband Access for Innovation and Regional Development, European Community, European Regional Development Fund (2008), cited by STRATIGEA, A., ICTs for rural development: potential applications and barriers involved, Netcom, 25 – 3/4 (2011).

19) MANAGERIAL AGENCY FOR SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER (AMCSIT) – POLITEHNICA WEBSITE, http://www.amcsit.ro/amcsit.old/relansin.html, accessed on December 2016.

20) MATEI, A., SĂVULESCU, C., ANTONOVICI, C., Social Innovation in the Local Public Sector: A Cross-Regional Approach for Romania, Theoretical and Applied Economics, vol. 22, no. 4(605) (2015).

21) MULGAN, J., The art of public strategy, Oxford: Oxford University Press (2009), cited by MATEI, A., SĂVULESCU, C., ANTONOVICI, C., Social Innovation in the Local Public Sector: A Cross-Regional Approach for Romania, Theoretical and Applied Economics, vol. 22, no. 4(605) (2015).

22) RURINNO WEBSITE, http://rural-innovations.net/articles/2016/5/30/social-innovations-in-rural-regions-launch-of-eu-horizon-2020-project, accessed on December 2016.

23) SCAR FORESIGHT COMMITTEE (2007), FFRAF report: foresighting food, rural and agri-futures, Standing Committee for Agricultural Research, Version 20, February 2007, http://ec.europa.eu/research/agriculture/scar/pdf/foresighting_food_rural_and_agri_futures.pdf, cited by STRATIGEA, A., ICTs for rural development: potential applications and barriers involved, Netcom, 25 – 3/4 (2011).

24) SCHAFFERS, H., MERZ, C., GUZMAN, J.G., Living Labs as Instruments for Business and Social Innovation in Rural Areas, work partly funded by the European Commission through IST Project C@R: Collaboration@Rural (No. IST-2006-34921) (2009).

25) SHAH, S., http://www.sociologydiscussion.com/sociology/theories-of-social-change-meaning-nature-and-processes/2364, accessed on December 2016.

26) SIMRA (Social innovation in Marginalised Rural Areas), http://www.simra-h2020.eu/index.php/newsletter/, accessed on December 2016.

27) STÅHLBRÖST, A., HOLST, M., The Living Lab Methodology Handbook, Social Informatics at Luleå University of Technology and CDT – Centre for Distance-spanning Technology, Sweden (2012).

28) STANESCU, A.M. et al, ARCHE3S: first Living Lab enabler in Romania aiming at cross domain synergy-based approach to sustain SMEs, University Politehnica Bucharest (2015).

29) STOICA, M., Premises of transition to information society, Economic Information Journal, no. 4 (16) (2000).

30) STRATIGEA, A., ICTs for rural development: potential applications and barriers involved, Netcom, 25 – 3/4 (2011).

31) TIRZIU, A.M., VRABIE, C.I., NET Generation. Thinking outside the box by using online learning methods, New Trends and Issues Proceedings on Humanities and Social Sciences, issue 8, SPROC, 6th World Conference on Learning, Teaching and Educational Leadership (WCLTA 2015), October 29-31, 2015, Descartes University Paris, France (2016).

32) TIRZIU, A.M., Social innovation – a beneficial vision on the public sector. Case study: social innovation in the public universities from Italy, vol. 3 of the “Smart Cities” Conference, 3rd edition, December 10, 2015, Pro Universitaria Publishing House, SNSPA, Bucharest, Romania (2016).

33) TIRZIU, A.M., VRABIE, C.I., Education 2.0: universities‘ e-learning methods, LAP Lambert Academic Publishing, Germany (2015).

34) TRADING ECONOMICS, http://www.tradingeconomics.com/romania/rural-population-percent-of-total-population-wb-data.html, accessed on December, 2016.

35) URBACT (2016), http://www.blog.urbact.eu/2016/12/lab-connections-policy-labs-in-europe-for-europe-policylab4eu/, accessed on December 2016.

36) U.S. CONGRESS – OFFICE OF TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT, Computerized Manufacturing Automation: Employment, Education, and the Workplace, Washington D.C., OTACIT-235, April 1984.

37) VRABIE, C., IT elements for the Public Administration, Pro Universitaria, 2nd edition, vol. 2, Bucharest (2014).

38) WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM, The Europe 2020 Competitiveness Report: Building a More Competitive Europe, Geneva (2014).