Our workshop explores how digital innovation can strengthen territorial cohesion, demographic resilience and sustainable development. Bringing together diverse experiences from different regions across Europe, it highlights how tools like digital twins, AI and e-government support data-driven planning, inclusive governance and smart strategies that empower people to stay, thrive and engage locally. By addressing depopulation, access to services and economic transformations (including those shaped by evolving tourism patterns and international events), the session will show how digitalisation, rooted in public interest and regional values, can be a powerful enabler of the right to stay.
- Cohesion | Demographics (depopulation and ageing) | Digital and ICT | Governance and Public administration | Industry, entrepreneurship and SMEs (enterprise/ startup/ business) | Local and regional | Research and Innovation | Territorial | Tourism and Heritage
- Code: 14PD252190
- Jacques Delors building, JDE 52
Moderator
Practical information
- When
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Tue 14/10/2025, 16:30 - 18:00 CET
- Where
- Jacques Delors building, JDE 52
- Type of partnership
- Regional partnership
- Format
- Political/policy debate
- Theme
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The Right to Stay: unlocking the potential of every territory
- Languages
- English, Spanish, German
Partners
Regional Government of Castilla-La Mancha
State Government of Carinthia
Bouches-du-Rhône Departmental Council
West Finland European Office
Marshal's Office of the Lodzkie Region
Reporting
Session summary
The workshop served as a forum where participants emphasized that digital transformation is not merely a technological process but a strategic tool to promote social inclusion, economic competitiveness, and territorial cohesion. Each region shared its experience in advancing digitalization across public administration, education, business, and rural services, demonstrating how technology can deliver tangible benefits to citizens and local communities.
Participants identified several shared priorities, including the responsible integration of artificial intelligence into public administration, the promotion of digital education and training for citizens and public employees, enhanced cybersecurity and data protection, and the development of digital infrastructure and platforms to improve access to services in rural and remote areas. They also stressed the importance of maintaining digital sovereignty and promoting interoperable solutions that reflect European values.
Another key theme was the crucial role of European cooperation and funding in supporting regional digital transformation. All speakers agreed that EU programs and partnerships are essential to help regions, especially rural and less populated areas, to innovate, attract talent, and create new opportunities.
As an example of their regional contributions to innovation, Carinthia highlighted its innovation clusters at the Lakeside Science and Technology Park in Klagenfurt and its commitment within the European Semiconductor Regions Alliance. In Castilla-La Mancha, the digitalization of public administration is led by the Digital Transformation Agency, turning technology into an effective tool to address the demographic challenge. In Bouches-du-Rhône, the AI MIA tool, which provides an intuitive, multilingual, personalized conversational interface connected to local data in real time and accessible to all residents of the region. Finally, in Satakunta, the development of SMEs is supported by resources such as the Robo AI Research Center, which brings together the expertise of Satakunta University of Applied Sciences and Tampere University.
To complement the workshop, a video from the “Rural Pact Community Group” (Castilla-La Mancha and Carinthia), in partnership with the Granular Project, was presented during the event. Framed within the “Innovating Rural Public Policy” initiative, the aim is to turn obstacles into opportunities, shaping smarter policies, empowering rural communities, and making our regions places where people choose to live, return, and thrive.
In conclusion, the session underlined that digital innovation is essential for building resilient, inclusive, and sustainable regions. By sharing experiences and strengthening cooperation, European regions can transform digitalization into a powerful driver of growth and cohesion, contributing to the creation of true “regions to stay”: places where people choose to live, work, and thrive.
Quotes
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The path we have taken has certainly contributed to Carinthia achieving a turnaround from “Brain Drain” to “Brain Gain” and thus, as a region, viewing the “right to stay” as central to the future.
The regions are the heart and engine of Europe. If they are weakened by any fantasies of centralization, the entire vibrant organism that is the European Union will be weakened
Digital innovation is not just a technological tool, but a means to guarantee territorial cohesion, equal opportunities, and the competitiveness of our economy.
Digitalization must be inclusive, fair, and sustainable.
Strategies as The Digital Health of Castilla-La Mancha, are based on a balance that seeks to focus and, at the same time, be based on three key elements: people, data and interoperability.
Digital tools as MIA are example of innovation that promotes the attractiveness, quality of hospitality and digital transformations of regions.
Digitalization provides tools for delivering services to sparsely populated areas, for example through remote services and smart solutions. Remote services (in healthcare, social services, education) ensure service accessibility even in remote areas.
