The project partner kicked off CORA – COnnecting Remote Areas with digital infrastructure and services on 6.-8. November in Kortrijk, Belgium.

During the three days of intensive work, CORA project partner discussed their ambitious plans and activities to bridge rural digital divide in their regions. Furthermore, the representatives of the Interreg North Sea region Joint Secretariat presented and discussed the financial and communication procedures and regulations with the project partner.

CORA is a project supported by the Interreg North Sea Region programme (2014-2020) and comprises a transnational consortium of 18 partners from 7 European Member States.

The project is organized around 6 Work Packages with the focus on Bridging digital divide and stimulating digital innovation in rural areas. It helps local authorities to fill in the digital gaps in terms of advanced infrastructure, digital skills as well as digital public services and empowers them to create an environment to facilitate digital innovation in rural areas.

Until 2020, 10 regions will test one or more dimension of digitalization in their regions. These include, cross border fiber sharing, superfast wireless solutions, new digital public services, fixed and mobile digital hubs as well as digital skill training. The results will be utilized to formulate digital strategies for rural areas and will be streamlined to the regional, national as well as European authorities.