Services of General Interest SGI and digital accessibility are an important topic within the Macroregional strategy for the Alpine area EUSALP. Action Group 5, which is one of nine AG’s of EUSALP, is dealing with this topic. A Think Tank composed of several experts from all Alpine countries has been established in 2016 to discuss these topics and give strategic orientation.
With this publication, the Think Tank wants to contribute to the ongoing discussions on international, national, regional and even local level on this topic. Regional disparities and gaps between urban and rural areas are becoming bigger and bigger. Services of general interest are therefore becoming more and more important in order to provide equal opportunities for all citizens and enterprises. Digitalization can help to improve the delivery of those services and to provide new ones, thus making rural areas more attractive.
In the first semester of 2021, the members of the Think Tank have analyzed the potentials, digitalization offers to improve existing services and to develop new services. The present publication summarizes the outcomes of this discussion. Experiences from the Covid-19-crisis have also been taken into account. This crisis underlines once more the crucial role of SGI, e.g. with a strong health sector, the availability of local grocery shops and robust digital infrastructures.