Digitisation in rural areas - new opportunities for business development and investor services
In the Lake Constance four-country region (VLRB) many companies are already in the midst of digital transformation. BSM GmbH supports small and medium-sized company with digitisation in a variety of projects.
SmartVillages - the rural area of tomorrow
SmartVillages is a project supported by Interreg. BSM GmbH implements solutions targeted at minimizing the digital gap between rural and urban areas in a way that can serve as blueprint for other comparable regions in the EU. The goal is to present these areas as desirable locations for life and work.
That's exactly what SmartVillages offers a framework for. The project facilitates the collaboration of players in the economic, social and environmental sectors as well as between different institutional entities such as science, administration, business and innovation and policy-making.
Project 1: Standort Guide Bodensee (SGB)
The Standort Guide Bodensee (SGB) presents real estate, commercial space and business locations on a digital platform. With its unique 360-degree panoramic imagery, SGB evokes emotions and creates a positive connection to the VLRB. In providing relevant information on topics, attractions and services, SGB serves as a "factsheet" for the region.
For the interactive presentation and marketing of commercial space, the Standort Guide Bodensee was nominated and voted a finalist in the first-ever "Standort Award 2019". The positive jury feedback fostered further evolution of the project.
In response to the Corona pandemic and its economic consequences, the B2B Platform of the Lake Constance four-country region was launched. It is integrated into the Standort Guide Bodensee and functions as a digital marketplace for entrepreneurs in the region. They can post offers and requests for goods and servíces free of charge. This enables them to build up reliable regional supply chains. As a result, dependence on foreign countries is reduced, the regional economy is strengthened and the environment is protected.
Project 2: City of Tengen - Digitisation of the administration
SmartVillages has given the city of Tengen the opportunity to digitize its own administrative services.
In a unique new approach, the citizens of the town of Tengen were being actively involved in the process. An initial effort targeted the most frequently used citizen service: the ordering of waste bins. This digital process has already been implemented on the www.service-bw.de platform. It is the first digital citizen service in Germany to be jointly created by municipal administration and citizens.
Thanks to the joint implementation, citizens are not only aware of, but have accepted the new process. Its user-friendly interface and simple design provide an enhanced user experience. Other municipal communities are also able to adopt the process design, which makes this type of citizen involvement a role model reference.
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Digitisation as a chance
Industrial digitisation is leading to radical transformation of business models and processes. As a result, small and medium-sized businesses (SME) in particular are facing significant challenges. In the project Bodenseemittelstand 4.0 (BoMi 4.0), a group of eight international VLRB project partners have put their 2020 focus on providing capabilities that give SMEs a perspective for perceiving digitisation as a future opportunity rather than a threat.
The goal is to bundle existing expertise of digitally versed companies, universities, business development agencies and relevant initiatives and to make them available to SMEs.
With its activities, BoMi 4.0 is promoting economic, scientific and political cross-boarder cooperation between Germany, Austria Switzerland and Principality of Liechtenstein in order to position the VLRB as a "digital region". The goal is to strengthen and retain the Lake Constance area as one of the most competitive and dynamic economic regions in Europe.
With a project budget of around 1.3 Million Euros, BoMi 4.0 is funded by the Interreg V programme "Alpenrhein-Bodensee-Hochrhein" (ABH) from 2017 through 2020. These funds are made available by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and by federal funds from Switzerland.
Partners
Germany
- Bodensee Standort Marketing GmbH
- cyberLAGO e. V. digital competence network
- HTWG Konstanz (University of Applied Sciences City of Constance)
- Wirtschaftsförderung Bodenseekreis (Business development Lake Constance)
Austria
- Wirtschafts-Standort Vorarlberg Betriebsansiedlungs GmbH (Business Loaction Vorarlberg)
- Plattform für digitale Initiativen (Market place for digital initiatives)
Switzerland
- Hochschule für Technik Rapperswil/Schweiz (University of Applied Sciences Rapperswil)
- Startfeld
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