The European Data Portal's report - Enabling Smart Rural

At the end of November 2019, the European Data Portal (EDP) published the report "Enabling Smart Rural: The Open Data Gap". The report focuses on leveraging insights from existing research and use cases and to understand and define 'rural' open data. Two types of rural open data are discussed:

• Rural populations - people living in rural areas.
• Rural economy - traditional rural industries.

"Enabling Smart Rural" examines the collection, availability, and use of open data in rural areas through the lens of a smart city. By doing so, the report investigates the prioritisation of the development of services and products for urban populations and industries and what it means for rural populations and rural economies and their specific requirements.

The report recommends the following activities directed at Member States with larger rural populations:

• The institutionalisation of open data skills and knowledge;
• Increasing awareness of High Value Datasets;
• Engaging with complementary data owners such as non-governmental organisations and researchers;
• Developing skills links with urban areas; and
• The creation of hackathons or challenges that specifically target rural issues.

In addition, the report provides six key recommendations under three themes to policy makers who want to encourage the use of data at various levels of government at the rural level. Discover what these recommendations are in "Enabling Smart Rural: The Open Data Gap".

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