THE ROLE OF YOUTH ENGAGEMENT, EDUCATION, COMMUNITY BUSINESS AND COLLABORATION IN THE TRANSITION TO A SMART VILLAGE

Abstract

The decline in the rural population and the weakening of vitality are pressing issues, which scientists associate with the migration of young people to cities and the weakening of social and economic structures. Research and practice show that one of the sustainable solutions may be the transition to a smart village. This is recognized as an effective practice in the EU, but its potential has not yet been sufficiently revealed and exploited. The authors took the view that smartness is a goal, where local community organizations raise the level of governance and take targeted action to achieve smart status. A systematic analysis of the study was performed based on the PRISMA 2020 methodology (Moher et al., 2021).  This article identifies the role of youth engagement, education, community business, and collaboration in the development of smart villages. The factors are closely interrelated and complementary, and their integration forms subsystems for the transition to a smart village. A conceptual spiral model of transition to a smart village has been developed, consisting of six stages linked by three main axes: social mobilization, strategic planning, and innovation integration. The principles of community business organisation can be applied in smart village strategies to ensure the transition to a smart village.