Digitalization in sparsely populated areas: between place-based practices and the smart region agenda

Essential rural services in the Nordic Region – Challenges and opportunities

“…The study by also suggests that the expectation is that digitalisation in the healthcare sector will bring greater quality, accessibility, flexibility and efficiency. Based in a study of Sweden and United Kingdom, Dubois & Sielker (2022) highlight three risks with digitalisation of public services in sparsely populated areas; that local actors perceive the digitalisation as a decommitment of the state and other public authorities in rural areas, that vulnerable groups that are in most need of seamless public service are excluded, and that cloudbased solutions and data storage cause an increased administrative burden for local authorities already over-stretched.…”

A Theoretical Approach to Digital Utility Technologies in Border and Peripheral Territories

“…Many of the developments that have taken place with digitization are aimed at connection and communication between areas, regions, states or organizations, such as the facilitation of cross-border data flows, infrastructure integration, the development of digital platforms and trade facilitation measures [12]. All this shows that the intention is to remove as many barriers and borders as possible.…”

Welfare institutes in sparsely populated areas

“…This recent progress in innovative technologies has an enormous potential to close inequality gaps in health between rural and urban areas (Hirko et al, 2020;Lundgren et al, 2020b). The EU Cohesion Policy sees increasing digitalisation as a lucrative and cost-effective solution to provide public services in 'sparselizing' Europe while making rural populations less disadvantaged (Dubois and Sielker, 2022). In addition, the use of distance-spanning solutions in health and social care is expected to increase the quality of care, access to care services and the cost efficiency of service provision (Lehtonen et al, 2019;Lundgren et al, 2020a).…”

“…The main focus areas for the CRM include access to care services in SPAs by using distance-spanning technologies, the health of Sami people, and recruitment and education within the field of rural health (Berggren and Holmkvist-Parkström, 2014;Region Västerbotten, 2022). The CRM has been particularly active in testing and implementing new medical solutions, organising labour in novel ways appropriate to SPAs, overseeing public-private co-operation within the medico-technical sector, participating in international collaborations such as Interreg projects, and working closely with several international networks (Berggren and Holmkvist-Parkström, 2014;Region Västerbotten, 2014;Dubois and Sielker, 2022). A showcase example of CRM activity is the virtual health rooms (VHRs) located in public buildings in inland communities, far from health care centres and the regional hospital of Umeå.…”

“…Typically, these communities support an ageing population that is less mobile and has difficulties accessing care services. The VHRs are unmanned rooms equipped with medical instruments and amenities for direct video calls with general practitioners and can also be used for blood testing and health checks with or without professional assistance (Näverlo et al, 2016;Jonsson et al, 2022;Dubois and Sielker, 2022). practice, a research programme targeting rural health care practice, and the facilitation of networking and international co-operation between practitioners and researchers focusing on rural health (Aaraas and Swensen, 2008).…”