Digital Innovations for Rural Industry Create Socio-Economic and Environmental Impacts

The digital divide is especially present in rural communities compared to urban areas. The forestry industry is typically found in rural areas and is an essential part of global natural resource management, aiming to meet both profit demands from industry and social needs from the community. However, the industry is characterized by a low degree of digitalization and innovation and a need for more efficient, sustainable and certified operations. 5G is the fifth generation of mobile communication and allows for increased bandwidth, reduced latency and massive IoT connectivity - features highly valued by industries in rural as well as urban areas. 5G/IoT is also recognized as a new opportunity for the telecom industry to counterattack the decline in revenues from traditional connectivity services. This paper presents results from the Horizon Europe COMMECT project on the piloting of digital innovations in the forestry industry, and the assessment of the expected impacts from these innovations as seen from the stakeholders engaged in the field trials. The socio-economic impact is mostly related to reduced time and cost of operations. Environmental impacts include the preservation of flora/fauna and cultural settlements and reduced forest contamination. Moreover, a set-theoretic analysis (Qualitative Comparative Analysis - QCA) enabled us to find combinations of organizational factors that contribute to high level outcomes and impacts. The factors investigated include the organizational conditions (experience with process innovation, agility, and digital competence). Two pathways to the successful implementation of new digital solutions are found. Future research should incorporate a broader set of organizational and environmental conditions into the QCA model and explore a broader industry and regional scope.