Pažangaus kaimo vystymosi varomosios jėgos

Abstract

At the end of the second decade of the 21st century, society is undergoing a cultural and technological revolution, which translates into a fundamental rethink of human relations, new technologies, science and creativity. The movement of smart villages in the European Union and in other countries combines rural communities that are innovative in exploiting rural development potential and clearly defines development trends. Traditional and emerging networks of interest, reinforced by the advancement of digital and telecommunications technologies, bioenergy and the ability to use the knowledge gained in favour of local populations and business development, help rural communities to make strategic breakthroughs. Communities that are constantly learning, exploit the benefits of the countryside and popularize the values of life in the countryside, create viable villages. Digital technologies and innovation help ensure higher quality of life, better public services, better and more efficient use of local resources. Interfaces between traditions and state-of-the-art technologies enable the countryside to create new value chains. New rural development opportunities are emerging. In European society, instead of "the quantity at the lowest price" become more important other things, such as food quality, consumer health and animal welfare, biodiversity, rural landscape and environmental resources, the value of family farms, indigenous cultures and traditions of rural conservation. The goal of local economic developers is not to expand the production of cheap local products but to explore ways to strengthen the production and consumption of local products, creating positive relationships between consumers and farmers, consumers and craftsmen, also supporting the sustainable development of rural areas. The aim of Integrated Common Agricultural Policy after 2020 is to promote knowledge, innovation and digitization in the agricultural sector and rural areas, with the focus being no longer on rules and compliance, but on results and performance indicators. The paper focuses on the problem of smart village's development with respect to sustainable rural development. Analysed results of research, experience of local and international organizations, and best practice have helped to understand smart rural village development drivers and key components of the model. The goal of the study was to identify the preconditions for the progress of rural areas and the identified smart rural villages driving forces. The research uses scientific literature, documents, good practice examples analysis, systematization, comparison and other methods. The main restriction of research that it was analysed and evaluated good practice and successful examples. The experience of local and international organizations, best practice can help rural development actors to realize the basic principles of the smart rural model. The smart rural villages development driving forces have been identified: precision farming; digital and other open for innovation platforms; shared economy; circular economy; bio-based economy; renewable energy; rural tourism covering ecological, health-friendly food and recreation, recreational tourism; social innovation in rural services and entrepreneurship; inclusive social infrastructure, creation and implementation of a partnership organisational mechanism. Applying the smart rural model based on the bottom-up approach, the LEADER approach has been methodically applied, focusing on the exchange and integration of formal and non-formal knowledge, in which all actors are interactively involved. Knowledge creation and training are organized at all stages of the project implementation. Digital technology is a powerful tool for advanced villages, but not the only one. Following the successful examples of living laboratories, it can be assumed that rural areas can become more advanced in IT implementation, which helps rural communities to develop social innovation and maintain a living space. A particular role play social innovation and the organizational culture of the rural area, which is a mechanism for self-regulation of the local community. The organizational culture of the rural area is a collection of common values and beliefs of the local community that change stakeholders' attitudes and shape their behaviour. It is a set of management methods and tools that are designed to address the problems of rural development and is the basis of local management associated with environmental survival and internal integration; it helps to create competitive advantage of a site, a sustainable community thus increasing the viability and resilience of the countryside. The concept of smart rural development should be based on the partnership mechanism, i.e., information, counselling, inclusion and participation decisions, several activities and stakeholders acting in a synchronous manner. (English) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]