Track | Smart Villages Salla Pätilä, Network Expert, Finnish National Rural Network Mindtrek Conference 15th of November 2022. Tampere, Finland www.mindtrek.org

1. Finnish National Rural
Network: Support
Framework for Smart
Villages
Mindtrek Conference 2022, 15.11.2022 Tampere
Salla Pätilä, Network Expert

2. 2
The Finnish National Rural Network – the Network
Support Unit
• The Finnish National Rural Network brings together the various actors involved in the rural development
programmes of the mainland Finland and the Åland island  the Finnish CAP strategic plan in the future
• National Rural Network consists of public sector on national and regional level, rural municipalities, farmers,
private rural companies, research institutions, Leader action groups, rural associations, advisory organisations
and other stakeholders involved in rural development and agriculture
• The multidisciplinary steering group work – set by the Finnish ministry of agriculture and forestry – sets the
focus for the network and its annual actions
• The Rural Network Support Unit:
1. Communicates about the opportunities offered by the rural development programmes and the future CAP strategic
plan, its results and the good practices the programmes generate around Finland
2. Brings together members of the network, generates new cooperation and activates potential beneficiaries on national,
regional and local level
3. Supports policy-making and the organisations involved in the implementation of the rural development programmes
and the CAP strategic plan
4. Collaborates actively on EU level and within the Nordic-Baltic framework
• Multilocal unit located in Seinäjoki in western Finland, administratively part of the Finnish Food Authority (Ruokavirasto)

3. Support Framework
for Smart Villages

4. 4
NRN Thematic Working Groups on Smart
Villages
Smart Villages (Älykkäät kylät –työryhmä)
• A two-year thematic working group (2019-2020) coordinated by Sami Tantarimäki, University of Turku
• Goals of the thematic working group:
1. encourage villages to take advatage of the opportunities of digitalization
2. stir up discussion about smart villages in villages and on national level
3. pass on information related to smart villages and collect good examples
4. smart cities  smart villages
• Trainings, webinars, seminars, hosting international guests, organising the Finland’s Smartest Village
Competition in collaboration with the NRN
Smart Rural Areas in Swedish-speaking Finland and in the Nordics (Smarta landsbygder i
Svenskfinland och Norden)
• A two-year thematic working group (2021-2022)
• Coordinated by Ann-Sofi Backgren
• New forms of work, entrepreneurship and living in rural areas + the Nordic perspective

5. 5
Finland’s Smartest Village Competition (2018-2020)
• ‘EU action for Smart Villages’ by the European Commission in April 2017 – Finland’s smartest village
competition was a concrete way to promote smart village thinking in Finland
• Defining “smartness” in collaboration with villages
• Finland’s Smartest Village competition brought together like-minded people in rural areas to develop their
communities in a smart way: registration closed in August 2018 with 32 villages or groups of villages
applying all around Finland
• Participating villages benefitted from innovation camps, expert coach services, peer-to-peer support,
webinars, information, funding and forums for discussion and exchange
• The competition ended in September 2020 with visits to the five finalist villages - the winner, Vuolijoki
village, was announced in October 2020
• Organized by the Finnish NRN and the Smart Villages thematic group
• Collaboration with the structural funds ESF and ERDF, the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund, the
Ministry of Transport and Communications, the Rural Policy Council of Finland (MANE), the Association
of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities and the Village Action Association of Finland

6. 6
Vuolijoki Innovation Camp
• 40-50 participants came together in Vuolijoki in November 2021 to solve concrete issues Vuolijoki
village was facing: lack of housing, youth inclusion, energy production and new forms of rural work
• Participants from all around Finland, from rural areas to bigger cities: villagers of Vuolijoki, LAG
workers, representatives of the regional authority and the ministry of agriculture and forestry,
researchers, entrepreneurs, NGO actors, rural youth
• Different inspiring participatory methods were used and the work was documented in pictures,
videos, and in social media
• Two days of living, eating and working in the heart of Vuolijoki
• What’s happening in Vuolijoki now?
• Local biogas plant invesment: in process with local farmers
• ”Mini-house” experiment during summer 2022 – exploring new forms of living in rural areas
• Motosports in the youth center – now part of the national model for leisure activities campaign
(Suomen harrastamisen malli) and receving national funding

7. 7
• Digitalization, digital solutions
• Social innovations
• Sustainability
• Developing new alliances and ways to
collaborate
• Thinking outside the box
• Inclusion and engagement
• People and rural communities
HOW DID WE DEFINE SMART?

8. 8
Plans for the CAP 2023-2027 period
• Smart Village morning coffee hours – bringing villagers together regurlary to
discuss Smart Village related themes
• Digital skills, mobile services, local energy solutions, self-service shops,
automatisation, circular economy, security…
• Annual meetings for projects receving Smart Village funding
• Smartest Village in Finland Competition round two - in the end of the
programming period
• Are you interested in collaborating with us? Are you looking for Smart Village
partners?
• www.maaseutuverkosto.fi
• www.maaseutu.fi
• Salla Pätilä, salla.patila@maaseutu.fi