Experts of CESCI held a presentation at the 3rd Smart Communities Academy

The 3rd Smart Communities Academy, the international conference called ‘Smart opportunities for rural communities between 2021-2027’ was organised within the framework of the Smart Communities 2.0 project on 15-16 April 2021, and the co-workers of the CESCI were invited to present at the event. The co-workers of the CESCI have been engaged with strengthening cross-border cohesion for more than a decade. In their presentation, they focused on how the smart solutions could turn into elements strengthening the cohesion of border regions.

The project called ‘Smart Communities 2.0 – How to be smart in the countryside?’ (SKHU/1902/4.1/027) is implemented through the support of the Interreg V-A Slovakia-Hungary Cooperation Programme, and its target area is the Nógrád region in Hungary and the areas of Banská Bystrica and Košice in Slovakia. The basic concept of the project is that ‘smartness’ is not a privilege of the cities; sustainable well-being is available in the countryside as well using the latest technologies. This requires developing the local communities and engaging them in the global, increasingly digitalised world. The main goal of the project is to support the rural municipalities becoming smart through the development of specific cross-border services and the transfer of Smart Village knowledge. The 3rd Smart Communities Academy was organised in the interests of the latter.

The co-workers of the CESCI have been engaged with strengthening cross-border cohesion for more than a decade. In their presentation at the 3rd Smart Communities Academy, they focused on how the smart solutions could turn into strengthening elements. Looking at this specific segment of the area of smart solutions, it is extremely important to review what gives a cooperation or a project a truly cross-border nature. If we carry out this review, we are one step closer to finding out what makes a smart solution successful from a cross-border angle. Looking at the projects receiving support from cross-border cooperation programmes, it can clearly be observed that not only the levels of cohesion and cooperation, but also the level of smartness of certain projects is rising as time passes. Overall, it can be concluded that the main goal of applying smart solutions in cross-border cooperation is strengthening cross-border interactions and integration. In order to achieve this goal, the tools and activities in accordance with the needs of the given border region have to be found.

The 4th Smart Communities Academy is expected to take place in the autumn of 2021 in Slovakia, organised by the Technical University of Košice.