Smart-Rural Entrepreneurship: Integration of IoT and Entrepreneurship Management to Strengthen the Village Economy

This study explores the development and implementation of the Smart-Rural Entrepreneurship model as a strategic initiative to strengthen rural economic systems through the integration of digital technologies. Rural micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) often face challenges such as limited access to markets, decision-making tools, and institutional support, which hinder their competitiveness in the digital economy. The objective of this research is to design and evaluate a context-specific model that integrates Internet of Things (IoT) technology, Business Intelligence (BI), and the Simple Additive Weighting (SAW) decision-making method to enhance entrepreneurship in rural areas. The research followed four stages: identifying local potentials and needs, designing a smart entrepreneurship system, implementing and testing the system in a partner village, and evaluating and refining the system. The findings show that more than 82% of MSME actors adopted the digital promotion website after training, 76% utilized the SAW system to prioritize business strategies, and 68% benefited from the BI dashboard for real-time monitoring of sales and inventory. The integration of IoT and BI improved decision-making and reduced reliance on intuition, while the SAW method supported objective prioritization. The overall digital adoption increased from 40% to 82%, showing the effectiveness of the model in empowering rural MSMEs and promoting inclusive digital transformation.