The first Smart Rural Alarm Clock attracts the ideas of 15 entrepreneurs to Empty Spain

In Apadrina un olivo they know that the rural environment is full of opportunities for those who know how to take advantage of them. They themselves have been immersed in a social project for the recovery of an abandoned olive grove in Oliete for eight years, which has generated 17 jobs, has recovered more than 14,000 olive trees and has attracted an average of 3,000 annual visits to the municipality. Now, and with their example as a banner, they invite others to "wake up" and encourage them to launch themselves into the world of entrepreneurship in rural areas. Under the protection of the first Intelligent Rural Alarm Clock, 15 projects are already underway to start operating in Emptied Spain.

Sponsor an olive tree began working on the Smart Rural Alarm Clocks two years ago "with the main objective of turning ideas into sustainable projects capable of generating a high social, environmental and economic impact in the territory in which they are developed," explains Alberto Alfonso, co-founder of Sponsor an olive tree. In the summer they launched the first edition, encouraging entrepreneurs to present their ideas, and half a year later, the first projects begin to take shape.

On January 27, the January-July 2022 Support Cycle for Entrepreneurs began, which involves weekly individual follow-up sessions per project, virtual group meetings once a month and face-to-face meetings. A week before, a virtual meeting had been held to present the 15 initiatives to an assessment panel made up of 20 professionals from organizations and entities that collaborate with the project.

The proposals range from natural cosmetics to an international American school project, through personal growth initiatives, tourist routes that make use of technology to learn about historical and cultural heritage, or digital training and new technologies focused on older people.

“They are all projects with a real impact and also have that digital, sustainable and inclusive component, because we are also committed to rural women. That are, let's say, the requirements that any idea that is presented must have, "says Alfonso.

The importance of ICT

The first Intelligent Rural Alarm Clock is conceived as a "multidisciplinary" project that starts virtually for the moment, but is expected to have a physical space located in Oliete very soon. This center will house a co-working space to promote teleworking and the development of new technologies in rural areas and also an area dedicated to co-living that serves to accommodate digital nomads who want to stay in the town for a while.

In addition, the center will have a Smart Village development office, from which to implement strategies that pursue this triple impact -social, environmental and economic- through digital technologies. "We think that digitization, fiber optics, all this train that is now arriving in the rural environment must be taken definitively because it positions these areas at the same level as the urban environment," says Alfonso.

"Before in the town you could only be a farmer and rancher, but now in rural areas, thanks to the arrival of connectivity and digitization, horizons are greatly expanded," he says. Hence, these Smart Rural Alarm Clocks are designed to attract driving and dynamic projects that are capable of moving from theory to practice.

Finally, another of the main objectives of these centers is to train the productive sector in digital skills. "We focus our efforts on them, because thanks to entrepreneurship, employment is generated, services are maintained and thus the rural environment is prevented from going into decline," explains the co-founder of Apadrina un olivo.

It is expected that this Rural Alarm Clock model will spread to other parts of the territory, starting with some of the most vulnerable provinces affected by depopulation, such as Zamora and some of Andalusia, as well as Huesca and Zaragoza. The project has the support of the Provincial Councils and the collaboration of the Telefónica Foundation, the Ariño Smart Hub Foundation, the Caja Rural de Teruel and 21 other organizations.

The next step, they explain, is to obtain public funds. “Now it is about presenting the project to the public aid of MITECO so that each entrepreneur receives an economic amount that allows them to dedicate themselves 100% to their project. On the other hand, there has also been a call called Accelerate SMEs from which rural environments can benefit and, finally, aid for Conect centers, a commitment by the Ministry so that centers like ours prosper”.