Digitalisation in rural areas: exploring perspectives and main challenges ahead

This paper offers a comprehensive critical review on digitalisation in rural areas, drawing on international and EU policies, scientific and grey literature and real-life examples from two European H2020 research projects. In doing so, it aims at providing a basic conceptual framework encompassing three main intervention areas, with relative sub-themes, identified as relevant for rural areas, namely: the rural digital divide, the attractiveness of rural areas and opportunities for strengthening local gov-ernance. For each of these broad themes, the role of digital tools is explored and sup-ported by case study examples providing valuable insights and real-life applications in rural settings.