Digitalisation and Future Challenges in Rural Areas:

An Open Innovation based Research

Alexander Richter

, Lukas Waidelich

, Bernhard Kölmel

, Rebecca Bulander

, Patrice Glaser

Matthias Proske

and Sebastian Brügmann

IoS

- Institute of Smart Systems and Services, Pforzheim University, Tiefenbronner Str. 65, Pforzheim, Germany

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

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

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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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