Prospects for Digitalization of Rural Areas

ABSTRACT

The spread of digital technologies is changing modern society and production. Workers with special knowledge are becoming in demand, new jobs are emerging, and the production infrastructure is changing. Rural areas, in comparison with urban areas, use IT to a lesser extent. On the one hand, this hinders the spread of innovations, and on the other, it is due to the specifics of the village. There are factors that hold back the spread of digital technologies in rural areas. Such factors include a lack of specialists, a decrease in agricultural production, and so on. About 15% of rural residents do not want to use means of communication, because "there is no need”. Agricultural organizations are very little provided with digital communication facilities. Restrictions due to the COVID virus have shown that it is necessary to diversify production in order to maintain market positions. Digitalization of production allows to reduce risks, as well as production costs. New technologies allow solving issues faster and are limited to the region. Therefore, the expansion of digital technologies contributes to the development of rural areas. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.