Digitalisation and Future Challenges in Rural Areas:
An Open Innovation based Research
Alexander Richter
1
, Lukas Waidelich
1
, Bernhard Kölmel
1
, Rebecca Bulander
1
, Patrice Glaser
1
,
Matthias Proske
2
and Sebastian Brügmann
2
1
IoS
3
- Institute of Smart Systems and Services, Pforzheim University, Tiefenbronner Str. 65, Pforzheim, Germany
2
Planning Association of the Northern Black Forest Region, Westliche Karl-Friedrich Straße 29-31, Pforzheim, Germany
{proske, bruegmann}@rvnsw.de
Keywords: Digitalisation in Rural Areas, Future Challenges in Rural Areas, Local Supply, Health Care, Mobility,
Work-Life-Balance, Open Innovation, Crowdsourcing.
Abstract: In 2018, the revision of world urbanisation prospects report published by United Nations predicts the global
scenario of growing megacities and the accompanying decline in rural populations. This development will
profoundly change life especially in rural areas. As a result of research on the central experiences of the
practice-oriented “Digital Black Forest” project, this publication addresses the future challenges in rural areas
with a focus on local supply, health-related care and residential mobility. The project, promoted by the
initiative “digitale Zukunftskommune@bw”, used an open innovation-based research to gather the views of
around 500 rural residents in the German Northern Black Forest region. In this context, the project also
examines potential approaches to the aforementioned challenges, which are based primarily on new
technologies that have been established in the context of the ongoing digital transformation. This paper
outlines the scientific exploitation of the results from the “Digital Black Forest” project, aiming to face future
challenges in rural areas through approaches to digitalisation.
1 INTRODUCTION
Nowadays, digital transformation is ubiquitous and
encompasses all areas of our lives, affecting both our
business and social lifestyles. In the business context,
new business models can be established as a result of
digital disruption, which lead to a transformation of
global value chains and push well-established players
such as Nokia or Kodak to the edge of their existence
(Gassmann et al., 2014). This evolution was initiated
and facilitated by new technologies such as the
Internet of things, Big Data or artificial intelligence.
Furthermore, this transition is increasingly
penetrating the private lifestyle, which can be seen in
the trend towards smart homes. (McAfee and
Brynjolfsson, 2017)
Digitalisation is one of the so-called megatrends.
These are significant changes that have shaped our
lives for a long time and will continue to shape them
for a long time to come. As a consequence of their
impact on global society, they usually span several
decades and lead to a paradigm shift. Megatrends
have a sustainable impact on the world; the process is
slow, but fundamental and lasting. In summary, a
megatrend affects every individual and affects all
levels of society such as culture, economy, politics,
science and particularly technology. (Lux, 2012;
Ternès and Schieke, 2018)
Further megatrends besides digitalisation are
urbanisation and demographic shift. The United
Nations are predicting a further increase in
urbanisation, where rural populations are likely to
shrink. According to the findings, 68 % of the world's
inhabitants will live in urban areas in 2050, compared
to a figure in 1950 when only 30 % of the global total
lived in urban areas. This contrasts with the
challenges facing the rural areas, which are
confronted with shrinking numbers. This
development is further driven by demographic
change, which means that average life expectancy is
increasing. (Lux, 2012; United Nations, 2018)
Regarding the clearly perceptible effects of the digital
transformation, the significance of the further
megatrends can only be imagined.
Richter, A., Waidelich, L., Kölmel, B., Bulander, R., Glaser, P., Proske, M. and Brügmann, S.
Digitalisation and Future Challenges in Rural Areas: An Open Innovation based Research.
DOI: 10.5220/0007950001470153
In Proceedings of the 16th International Joint Conference on e-Business and Telecommunications (ICETE 2019), pages 147-153
ISBN: 978-989-758-378-0
Copyright
c
2019 by SCITEPRESS Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved
147
Summarized, the megatrends will have an
unpredictable influence on life, as we know it today.
For this reason, it is essential to identify the
challenges of these megatrends at an early stage and
derive the necessary measures from them. In order to
address these important issues in advance, the state
government of the German federal state of Baden-
Württemberg initiated the "digitale Zukunfts-
kommune@bw" initiative in 2018. One of the
objectives of the funding was to support communities
in preparing themselves for the future with
megatrends in mind. This will take place in the form
of independently developed, implementable and
tailor-made regional digitisation strategies. The
Northern Black Forest region applied with the
"Digital Black Forest" project for an initial funding to
develop a future-oriented digitisation strategy. The
project concept envisaged that the local residents of
the pilot region will be confronted with digitisation
topics on pre-defined issues and will be able to
provide input for the successful implementation of
digital change on site. Based on these findings, a
digital strategy was to be developed and implemented
in a follow-up project. This paper describes the
approach and presents the results of the public
participation on which the digital strategy is based.
2 METHODOLOGY
In order to meet the research challenge both
scientifically and systematically, a four-step approach
has been established. A systematic literature research
was carried out at the very beginning of the “Digital
Black Forest” project. In accordance with the
responsible stakeholders, priorities were set, and the
concepts were reduced to the key areas. The
conception, realisation and evaluation of public
workshops in four communities in the Northern Black
Forest is the third step using the crowdsourcing
approach (Brabham, 2013; Brabham, 2008; Estellés-
Arolas and González-Ladrón-de-Guevara, 2012;
Lemke et al., 2017). Finally, a digital public
participation was made possible within the so-called
innovation jam, based on the crowdsourcing method.
2.1 Literature Research
In a first step, a systematic literature search on the
topic of the transformation of rural areas in the course
of the digital transformation was carried out in order
to create a basis for the relevant topics. Approaches
of Cooper (1988), Brocke et al. (2009) as well as
Webster and Watson (2002) were used to
methodically support the first phase.
2.2 Key Topic Identification
Based on the results of the theoretical analysis, in a
second step the local stakeholders such as mayors,
infrastructure providers and committed regional
service providers were included in the final thematic
definition. This approach ensured the project team a
broad support and acceptance for the realization of
workshops in four communities of the nine pilot
communities. The selected topics for the workshops
were Local Supply, Health Care, Mobility and Work-
Life-Balance.
2.3 Workshops
The first approach was four face-to-face workshops,
which were actively promoted as "citizen workshops"
by the pilot communities. These four workshops were
held within two weeks in four of the nine pilot
communities. All citizens of the pilot communities
were invited to participate by a personal mailing in
the form of a flyer. All workshops had the same
content and allowed the participating citizens to
participate on the desired date. Due to the proximity
of the municipalities, the citizens did not have to
travel long distances, which was intended to lower the
barriers to participation.
The structure of each event was identical and
consisted of a greeting by the respective mayor, a
presentation by the project leader on the introduction
of the project, a motivational presentation on the
topics of digitisation and future societal challenges.
The final part of the event was the citizens' workshop.
The concept of the workshops had the aim to
capture the citizens' perspective on different topics
and to document it in a structured way. Based on the
"Emphasize" phase of the Design Thinking Process
Model (IDEO, 2015; Waidelich et al., 2018), the
workshops aimed to capture the citizens' perspective
on local supply, health care, mobility and work-life
balance. The so-called "jobs-to-be-done" approach
was chosen to describe the citizens' view (Christensen
et al., 2017; Ulwick and Osterwalder, 2016). This
covers the tasks of the citizens in relation to a certain
topic area. The "Value Proposition Canvas" approach
described by Osterwalder et al. (2014) was used for
querying and visually appealing documentation of the
citizens' view. The "Customer Profile" was
particularly relevant for the "Digital Black Forest"
use case. In addition to "customer jobs", this also
considers the so-called "pains" and "gains". The
ICE-B 2019 - 16th International Conference on e-Business
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"pains" stand for problems that citizens are currently
experiencing with regard to the task (e.g. mobility).
Future fears regarding the "pains" were also asked.
The "gains" stand for an additional benefit that
citizens would wish for, on the one hand, to
compensate for the problems or, on the other hand, to
receive a more attractive service.
For the actual realization of the workshops, four
movable walls were available at each workshop, on
which the topics Local Supply, Health Care, Mobility
as well as Work-Life-Balance were to be worked on.
At each of the walls, a facilitator was present to guide
the citizens through the topic area and the related
questions. In order to simplify the work, there were
also predefined questions on the tasks, problems and
the respective additional benefits. The ideas and
thoughts of the citizens were written on sticky notes
(by them or the facilitator) and attached to the wall.
Beside the topic facilitators there was a workshop
facilitator, who paid attention to the time and
forwarded the previously divided four groups of
participants rotating in fifteen-minute intervals for the
work on the next topic field. Due to this coordination,
each workshop was limited to 60 minutes.
In order to meet a holistic coverage of the citizen
opinions there was a fifth topic wall, which offered
place for the thoughts, ideas and wishes of the
citizens. With the help of this wall, citizens could also
address topics that were not covered by the four
predefined topic blocks.
At the end of each workshop, the edited screens
were photographed and digitally recorded as a basis
for the analysis. A total of around 100 citizens took
part in each of the four workshops.
2.4 Innovation Jam
In addition to the citizen workshops, the second
approach to citizen participation was a so-called
Innovation Jam (Hjalmarsson et al., 2017). This
format follows the open innovation approach and
delivers the results via digital participation in the
form of crowdsourcing (Brabham, 2013; Brabham,
2008; Estellés-Arolas and González-Ladrón-de-
Guevara, 2012; Lemke et al., 2017). Digital
crowdsourcing is used to bring external ideas from
citizens into the research process of the project,
without the citizens having to be there. They can dial
in via an online tool (a modified web conference
platform) and participate in the process. In order to
minimize the barriers to participation, an explanatory
film on participation in the platform was produced
and advertised via press release, social media
postings and the project website.
The digital crowdsourcing event took place on 14
January 2019 between 3 pm and 7 pm. The four
predefined subject areas were also addressed here.
Two facilitators led the participants through the
event. The workshop was repeated a total of four
times in the period described. The special aspect
compared to the citizens' workshop was that
participants could dial in at any time and participate
directly in the discussion. As the workshop was
repeated every hour, participants who joined the
workshop later were able to get in right in the middle
and, after one run, also get out right in the middle of
the workshop. By using discussion hints, the
participants could see at any time where they were
within the workshop and when which topic was being
discussed.
A total of more than 100 participants followed the
call to participate in the online crowdsourcing event.
They took part in the event via computers and mobile
devices. The participants made more than 1000
contributions to the topics during the event. From the
facilitators' point of view, the discussion was
constructive and fair.
2.5 Limitations
As with the majority of research works, the design of
the current study is subject to limitations. First of all,
it should be mentioned that the focus of this research
work is on the results of the open innovation
approach. Therefore, this paper focuses on the future
challenges in rural areas and the digital solutions
derived from them. This paper does not intent to
compare the differences of the analogue citizen
workshops concept with the digital innovation jam
concept. More important, the digital participation
format extends the database, which is necessary for
the next step, which will be a digital strategy for the
region.
3 RESULTS
The results of the four workshops and digital citizen
participation are presented in this section. The results
are shown in the following order: Tasks, problems,
possible solutions.
3.1 Local Supply
With regard to the topic of local supply, the surveyed
inhabitants of rural areas identified the tasks in the
fields of shopping, infrastructure, social life, access to
services, mobility, medical care and the existence of
Digitalisation and Future Challenges in Rural Areas: An Open Innovation based Research
149
jobs. In terms of shopping, respondents referred to the
purchase of groceries, clothing, bakery and meat
products and access to medicines. With regard to
infrastructure, inhabitants of rural areas named
broadband access and comprehensive mobile
communications as essential in addition to the supply
of electricity and water. In this context, the
availability of day-care centres, schools and
education in general was also relevant. Within the
topic social life, the workshop participants mentioned
the keywords housing, social life and personal
contacts, association life and leisure activities as well
as cultural events in the region. In addition, access to
services such as hairdressing and banking was
important to the public. Access to regional jobs was
also rated as important.
These aforementioned issues relating to local
supply can be categorised under the following topics:
economic, services, social affairs, infrastructure,
mobility, data security, health care and environment.
From an economic point of view, the public is
concerned about the decrease in the number of retail
stores, empty shops and price competition from
online offerings. With regard to services, respondents
wish improved opening hours for citizens' offices for
employed persons. This category also includes
requests for parcel services such as packing stations.
In terms of infrastructure, residents complained
primarily of inadequate mobile phone coverage. With
regard to mobility, the points corresponded to the
contents already described earlier. In this case, the
general topic of local supply was also addressed in the
area of health, where the public considered the
unresolved succession of doctors in rural areas and
health concerns due to environmental impacts
(exhaust gases, radiation, etc.) to be critical.
Concerning social factors, fears were expressed about
the shift of social life to the Internet, as some are
afraid of losing the "digital access". Further concerns
were expressed about data security and data
protection.
In the field of local supply, the residents were
asked for their wishes and suggestions for solutions
to the tasks mentioned and the resulting current and
future problems. The requests were divided into the
categories shopping, mobility, administration, social
affairs, energy supply, internet, medicine, local
platforms and sustainability aspects. With reference
to shopping, the questioned persons wanted
especially services, such as the delivery of goods
bought online to central points in local areas (e.g.
food boxes) or the supply of automated shops, which
can offer 24/7 groceries and other goods. Mobile
supermarkets or food deliveries by drone were
mentioned in three out of five workshops. Also, the
mobility topic was taken up again in the area of local
supply. Here the wishes were increased car sharing
offers, digital stops for public transport and
autonomous buses. With regard to administration and
municipal services, there was a great desire for more
flexible office hours, digitally manageable
administrative services and administrative
procedures. It was also suggested that empty local
facilities be converted into co-working spaces. All in
all, the respondents wanted to increase social services
and strengthen the social community. To this end,
digital solutions were clearly desired. Concerning the
energy supply, which was already mentioned in the
task area, the public wanted a development of
renewable energies and smart solutions for private
users. Another desire was to create intercommunal
digital platforms that offers added value to the public.
The preferred areas of application were mobility,
promotion of the sharing economy and cultural and
social issues.
3.2 Health Care
In terms of health care, the tasks related to medical
care, non-medical care and the organisation of care
for the elderly. In the case of medical care, access to
family doctors, specialists, clinical care if necessary,
as well as emergency medical services and
emergency care were particularly important. For non-
medical care, access to the pharmacy and medication
was relevant. Physio- and occupational therapy
options were also mentioned here. The third major
point in the spectrum of tasks of the interviewees was
the organisation of care for the elderly, to which
mobile care, home care and the organisation and
accommodation of relatives in senior living homes
were relevant.
Answers given by the public to the problems of
health care can be classified into the following
categories: access to medical care, access to
nonmedical care, time, distance, networking issues,
data security, mistrust towards technology and basic
issues. People reported problems with getting
appointments with the doctor in a timely manner,
being admitted or having difficulty gaining access to
emergency medical services. The workshop
participants consider the accessibility of the
pharmacy emergency service (distance) and the
supply of prescription medicines to be difficult with
regard to non-medical care. For the interviewees, the
third topic area is the time factor. The main issue here
is that doctors spend very little time per patient and
carers have very little time per patient. In addition, the
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long waiting time for a doctor's appointment is
problematic. These often seem to be difficult to
arrange with working hours. In addition, the public
opinion is that the waiting times at the doctors are still
very long despite an appointment. For many, the
distance to medical facilities also seems to be quite
large. A further problem mentioned is the lack of
networking between doctors, which, according to the
public, leads to the same medical tests being carried
out several times by different doctors. Some
respondents have also stated that the loss of personal
relationships, the fear of being evaluated by artificial
intelligence or even the fear of the glass insured
(against the health insurance company) is
accompanied by a personalised health insurance
amount. In the field of health care, the public raises
questions relating to data security and data protection.
Finally, the workshops also addressed basic issues
raised by the participants. These included the general
fear of the future development of medical care, the
costs of additional services/provision, the increasing
focus on economic efficiency in health care, two-
class medicine, as well as the problem of excluding
insured persons from private health insurance in/after
a case of disease. The local residents also provided
solutions for existing problems in the field of health
care. With regard to medical services, the majority of
the respondents wanted real-time telemedicine
applications for initial consultations, online
appointments, or even waiting time optimisation
through digital solutions. Moreover, the public
considered online platforms for data exchange
between doctors to be suitable for combining double
medical tests. Some also expressed requests for
automated services, such as vaccination or preventive
reminders. In addition, regular (e.g. monthly)
prescriptions that have to be collected from the doctor
seem to be a problem that the public wishes to see via
digital data transmission between doctor and
pharmacy. Furthermore, local citizens want the local
pharmacy to be available online and to offer services
and products there. Another wish expressed by older
people was that they should be able to use digital
medical devices.
In general, respondents believe that the
prevention of human error through digitisation can
make sense in the medical field.
3.3 Mobility
Regarding the tasks that arise in the context of the
mobility, the findings show that mobility is of great
importance above all in the professional and private
spheres. The third identified area of responsibility are
exceptional situations. In private use, mobility is
particularly relevant for family and friends’ visits. In
some cases, the transfer to sports and leisure activities
is also important. Most respondents use individual
mobility for holiday travel as well. In each of the
presence workshops, the keyword "round trips" was
also mentioned, which was described on request as a
targeted joyride. Mobility is also relevant for private
supplies (groceries, clothing, consumer goods).
Another point mentioned in all face-to-face
workshops is health care, which was mainly
described in the form of visiting a doctor. The reasons
given for the use of a private car or the desire for
individual mobility were habits, comfort,
independence, flexibility and freedom. In the
professional context, mobility is relevant first and
foremost for going to work. Individual mobility is
used for direct access to the work place or for transfer
to the nearest central public transport (bus or train)
station. For the surveyed residents, access to mobility
is also relevant for education and training purposes.
Some of the respondents are also dependent on
individual mobility for their professional activities,
for example to visit customers or transport supplies.
The third area of responsibility for mobility
mentioned here are exceptional situations. It is
important for the respondents to be able to quickly
access mobility in an emergency. The interviewees
strongly prefer individual mobility.
The problems described can be divided into
current problems and future fears. Current problems
relate primarily to the areas of private transport, the
environment and public transport. From the point of
view of the public, individual transport is very
developed, which leads to a high traffic density. In
particular, commuters complained about traffic jams
and the resulting loss of time. People who use or
would like to use public transport saw the availability,
punctuality, timing and reliability of the services as
problematic. The fear of higher costs or a decreasing
number of local public transport services were seen
as future problems in terms of public transport. Other
future fears were driving bans, technological
overload, lack of infrastructure and data protection
issues. In the discussions, the driving bans related
primarily to diesel vehicles used by residents for
work-related commuting. The technological overload
was increasingly mentioned by older workshop
participants who were afraid of being left behind by
technological innovations. In parallel to the costs for
individual e-mobility, the lack of an e-infrastructure
was a concern that prevented people from adapting
this technology. The last often discussed issue is the
Digitalisation and Future Challenges in Rural Areas: An Open Innovation based Research
151
topic of data protection and data security in relation
to mobility.
As a third and final step, the question of public
wishes with regard to mobility had been addressed. In
general, a generally improved infrastructure was
desired. This included road infrastructure, charging
infrastructure for e-vehicles and the development of
cycle paths. Despite the use of new forms of mobility,
a high degree of flexibility was important to the
general public. People of all ages highlighted the fact
that mobility facilitates social contacts and enables
people to participate in social life in this region.
Public opinion wanted affordable public transport
solutions, new mobility services such as car sharing,
or even lower costs by switching to individual e-
mobility. In this context, it was pointed out that
environmentally friendly mobility is considered
positive. Offers for car sharing, ride-sharing or
carpooling were expressed as wishes. An intermodal
mobility platform, which is intercommunally related,
has also been mentioned several times by residents.
In addition, local citizens wanted offers with
individual buses and taxis (public transport "on
demand"), which operate according to individual
needs. The individual can then travel autonomously.
In three out of five surveys, the air taxi was also
mentioned as a possible future sharing service for
mobility.
3.4 Work-Life-Balance
The last subject-area surveyed was the question of a
work-life balance and the related impacts. The
interviewees were working full-time as well as part-
time. From fixed working hours to flexitime and shift
systems, all working time models were covered in the
workshops. With regard to the recording of working
time, respondents mentioned models such as the
classic recording of working time for fixed working
times, but also other approaches such as trust-based
working time or annual working time accounts. The
topic of home-office/telework also came up at this
point. The digital organisation of work in this case
takes place via telephone, video conferences or digital
organisation tools.
Problems in relation to new forms of work can be
divided into current and future feared issues, as well
as questions concerning new forms of working time.
The workshop participants see current problems in
the areas of values of superiors (presence culture),
infrastructural problems as well as the traffic on the
way to and from work, as well as the lack of
broadband and mobile networks being available for
the realisation of telework. With regard to the
acceptance of home office solutions, the participants
see a need to improve both for employers and
employees. In doing so, they ask the question of a
meaningful balance of telework solutions. Another
concern of the employees was the lack of decoupling
of work and leisure time in home office solutions. The
employees are afraid that work could increasingly
take up their leisure time and that in the long term it
would be difficult to "relax". Similarly, the public is
assuming that home office cannot replace personal
contact. A general concern of respondents is the
increasing complexity of activities. Here, too, there is
a fear of being left behind.
The persons questioned again provided wishes
and solutions for this area. These can be grouped into
general, mobility-related and organisational (social
and private) categories. In general, the desire for more
leisure time and the desire for more flexible working
time models on the part of employers exists among
the people. In addition, the desire for home office
solutions has been expressed several times. Co-
Working was presented as a possible solution for the
above-mentioned problem that home office does not
replace personal contact, since employees from
different companies can meet here to work and thus
the social interaction and, if necessary, an expansion
of the personal perspective takes place. As far as
social aspects and private organisation are concerned,
the wish for an improved childcare situation was
mentioned. The interviewees also said that an active
community life or a municipal platform for leisure
activities can make a positive contribution to work-
life balance. There was also a desire to digitalise
administrative services as far as possible and to
individualise opening hours ("Opening hours mean
stress"). Mobility also has an impact on the work-life
balance of the people surveyed. Here they want an
enhanced, digitally optimised public transport
service. Autonomous driving was also suggested as a
solution, as time lost during commuting could be used
effectively here.
4 SUMMARY & OUTLOOK
After completion of the assessment, the workshop
results were presented to the stakeholders involved.
The further procedure was explained and possible
implementation projects outlined. The commitment
for a further joint approach was also obtained.
The analysis of the workshop results revealed
some key and cross-cutting findings and aspects.
These were emphasized remarkably often despite the
different subject areas. On the one hand, there is a
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strong desire for cross-municipal solutions, which can
be both digital and analogue. There is also a great
concern that services of general interest could be
transferred exclusively to the Internet and that social
contacts and the local physical infrastructure could be
eroded. Another core statement is that people fear that
the technical and infrastructural conditions in rural
areas may not be sufficient in the future. The fourth
core statement is that, despite the fears expressed, the
participants have a fundamentally open attitude
towards innovations, technological progress and the
overriding topic of digitisation. The precondition for
this, however, is that digitisation should provide
citizens with a clearly discernible benefit in their
everyday lives. To achieve this, two implementation
projects are initially planned for the regional digital
strategy. These will include a joint multifunctional
online platform for the Northern Black Forest region
and digitised services in local centres in the pilot
region. The exact design and realisation of the
implementation projects described will be evident
from the upcoming digitisation strategy.
On the basis of the results described, the project
team will develop a digitisation strategy for the pilot
region and will seek further funding for its
implementation. This funding from the state of
Baden-Württemberg is to be awarded in 2019. It is
also important for the stakeholders involved that the
"Digital Black Forest" project does not end with the
presentation of a digitisation strategy for the pilot
region but is continued by the project participants as
a long-term initiative in order to involve all citizens
in the overall digital transformation.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We acknowledge the funding initiative "digitale
Zukunftskommune@bw" of the Ministry of the
Interior, Digitisation and Migration of the German
federal state Baden-Württemberg for the support of
the project presented here.
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