Facilitating the digital transformation of villages

The concept of smartness is an essential topic that was only recently extended to rural areas. Although smartness is already incorporated strongly into numerous urban environments, differences between cities and villages prevent direct transfer of the methods and tools used for the smart transformation. To increase the awareness of newly developed or appropriately adapted tools and methods, their incorporation into a uniform platform is advisable. The paper presents the functional requirements and architectural backbone of a Digital Platform, currently being developed within the SmartVillages Project, Smart Digital Transformation of Villages in the Alpine Space. Key functionalities of the developed Digital Platform are (1) Self-assessment, allowing evaluation of smartness according to the different dimensions, (2) input and review of Best Practices regarding smart transformations, (3) Matchmaking, based on the results of self assessment, and (4) collaboration between involved parties. Functionalities are meant to be used by different village representatives, wherein the main purpose of the Digital Platform is to facilitate activities that could improve the smartness level of interested rural areas.