In 1950, approximately 1.8 billion lived in rural areas and subsequently, rural population growth averaged 1.0 per cent per year, with the result that the rural population nearly doubled, reaching 3.4 billion in 2018 and is expected to peak in 2021 at just over 3.4 billion. Rural villages are lacking behind urban areas when it come to the stages of industrial revolutions and societal development with respect to technological advancement. Today, the world is faced with the new wave of advanced technological revolution called Industry 4.0. Despite the impressive work being implemented successfully to create smart cities and smart villages in various countries, there are still no developed standard indicators that can be used to define smart rural village concept. The objective of the study is to develop indicators for smart rural villages aligned with Industry 4.0 technologies using systematic literature review, the 2030 agenda for sustainable development, as well as the ISO 37122, smart cities indicator's standard. The translation method developed prioritized indicators according to sustainability, smartness and connectivity from the Information and Communication Technology. The main contribution is the method and indicators developed over 2-year period for smart rural villages. The resulting indicators makes it possible to answer what a smart rural village is: village that has access to affordable energy, adequate housing, safe drinking water, an inquisitive rural culture, early warning systems against adverse weather conditions, against drinking water pollution as well as the predictable schedule for local doctor, taxi/bus.

Poverty in rural areas remains rife and high despite the rapid societal developments and technological advancements the world is riding on, brought about by the advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Most communities and individuals in many rural areas of the world often face near zero to limited access to basic services such as access to energy and healthcare. The study’s objective is to develop linkages between smart rural health indicators and smart rural energy indicators. This is achieved by using a six-stage method developed over a two year period. The method uses sustainable development goals as a point of departure; however, in this study, the focus is on healthcare and energy access. The following indicators has been derived: the number of patients in a village monitored remotely, the number of persons having access to a mobile health clinic powered by a renewable energy source, the number of network routers powered by renewable energy to enable drone usage in a village, and the accessibility of a patient’s database by the village surgeon remotely due to reliable and accessible servers powered by a mixture of sustainable and renewable energy. The paper concludes that a sustainable, renewable energy mix acts as the enabling link that renders healthcare services in rural villages accessible to all.