Connecting villages in Europe’s countryside

(Oct. 2024) Across Europe, rural and mountain communities are shrinking, as younger residents abandon them to pursue better opportunities available in the city.

Greater connectivity could help stem that outflow. But to become digitally connected, Europe’s villages need help from the continent’s policymakers.

“The European Union invests heavily in smart villages, to ensure that new innovations foster rural sustainability and resilience,” says Salvatore De Meo, a senior Member of the European Parliament.

In this Transform Talks video, De Meo tells Huawei Editor-in-Chief Gavin Allen that a balance needs to be struck. “We need to prevent large metropolises from becoming more and more populated, while rural and mountain communities become deserted,” he says.

But embracing tech doesn’t mean villages will leave behind their agrarian roots. Agriculture will remain a key sector whose use of technology helps fight climate change by optimizing water use and reducing the use of environmentally harmful pesticides.

“Agriculture and the environment are allies, not adversaries,” De Meo says. “New technologies, digitalization, and R&D can ensure that agriculture becomes a sector that guarantees sustainability.”