Co-creating Digital Transformation is the title and the theme of the INTERREG EUROPE “ERUDITE” final conference which will be held in Dijon, France on June 4 2019. Project partners, European, national and regional experts will discuss and present the solutions and strategies developed through the project and together examine the key issue of whether this transformation will be achieved through cooperation or competition between rural and metropolitan Europe.

Final Conference Draft Programme:

1. Presentation of ERUDITE: a joint presentation by all partners of their projects developed through social and economic return on investment and open innovation methodology.

2. Round Table on Digital Transformation: cooperation or competition between rural and metropolitan Europe.  With experts from the ERUDITE project consortium, European, national and regional stakeholders. What are the roles of European Programmes and institutions? How will rural and less favoured territories make a success of their digital transformation? Is networking the answer to achieving equality with Europe's Digital hotspots?

3. Interactive session on key services developed through the ERUDITE project, presented by project partners and stakeholders.

4. Working group sessions (focusing on digital hubs; e-health/care and e-administration-public services and methodologies-strategies) on future priorities for territorial digital transformation through improved service design and delivery.

On June 5 partners and stakeholders will have the opportunity to participate at two different study visits about digital innovation and start ups and rural digital and redevelopment hubs. The first study visit will take place in the morning at the at the Technical University of Belfort Monbéliard (UTBM) in the city of Sevenans. The focus will be on digital innovation, start ups and patnership. UTBM has created the ‘Innovation Crunch Lab of the Technical University of Belfort Monbéliard’ which is a one-stop shop to facilitate access to the skills and resources of the UTBM for all audiences, from large companies to citizens. Web site:  https://www.utbm.fr/utbm/universite-de-technologie/   The second study visit will take place in the afternoon at the municipality of Ronchamps. The program foresees the visit to ‘Filature 2.0’ (http://lafilature.city). This old factory in the 19th century was a spinning mill and in the 2000s was renewed and dedicated to co-working, relaxation, fablab, junior workshop, digital transition, high speed broadband, photos/videos studio, 3D scanner, video conference, confidential office or open space, training, workshops, open innovation, e-hub. This place id dedicated to everyone, general public and enterprises.

The 3rd day - June 6 - will be entirely dedicated to the Smart Villages thematic working group meeting, organized in Lormes with the European Network for Rural Development (ENRD - web site: https://enrd.ec.europa.eu). The village of Lormes is a pilot model for smart village of the future with services in the field of eHealth, eGovernment and other IT services. For example in the “Lormes Senior Care Home” the patients could be visited by a tele-geriatric consultation; the city has 3 free WiFi point, a community sensor project to monitor water, air and energy quality; the new building of the primary school has been built to low-energy standards, a drone service to map building energy loss, or for examples plant colonization in the Morvan regional natural Park and crop monitoring for local farmers.

Contact: [email protected] re registration for final conference and study visits June 4-5

Contact Clive Peckham on [email protected] re Smart Village event on June 6

More details will be published in the following weeks.