Digital Dun Laoghaire launches Ireland's inaugural 'Digital First Communities' Benchmark
From left - Gerard Corcoran - Huawei, Brian Flynn - Dun Laoghaire Tidy Towns, Kallie O’Donnell - MSc Smart & Sustainable Cities, Trinity College Dublin, Philip Doyle - Reverve Energy, Eoin Costello - Digital Dun Laoghaire and Ryota Yamagata MSc Smart & Sustainable Cities, Trinity College Dublin
As a result of the work of Digital Dun Laoghaire our county's capital town has become the flagship for the 'Digital First Communities' model which has evolved here since 2016. This new framework for vibrant localities is directly aligned with Government policy for reimaging our towns and villages across Ireland.
The time is right for communities across our country to look to capitalise on the opportunities and technologies of the 21st century to create and sustain employment in the heart of their localities. The benchmark in this report can be used by volunteers and officials alike as an essential first step in that direction.
The 21st century will see a paradigm shift brought about by the digital and green transition that will have considerable socio economic impacts on localities. Places that organise around digital and new technologies most effectively stand to gain the most by increasing their capabilities rapidly and outcompeting other regions. This change is taking place at a time when more people want meaning in their lives and are potentially more amenable to living outside cities in the pursuit of a sense of community that goes beyond the task driven agenda of daily life.
On the opportunity side, if we look at the sustainable regional development goals of ‘Our Rural Future’, a reimagining of rural Ireland requires that demand from businesses and workers for work that can be completed remotely will need to be met by a supply of remote-ready, vibrant communities that can market and differentiate themselves to attract and retain these remote knowledge workers and innovation-driven enterprises.
On the challenge side, Web 1.0 ushered in the era of ‘consumption on demand’ through cloud computing and eCommerce which changed local B2C retail forever. Now Web 3.0, the AI powered web, will usher in an era of ‘intelligence on demand’, which has the potential to impact a town’s B2B professional businesses in a similar way.
Therefore localities need to be empowered to become equipped to rapidly adapt and survive by leveraging the benefits of 21st century ideas and technologies that can help future proof them in a way that makes the economic base of their locality sustainable. That is the ambition of this 'Digital First Communities' benchmark.
We are grateful to Smart Dun Laoghaire (DLR County Council), Trinity College Dublin and Dun Laoghaire Tidy Towns for their input on this report.