Connected to stay: investing in digital connectivity for Europe’s remote, rural and outermost regions

- The event was highly successful in showcasing the importance of impactful projects with strong commitment from both the project promoters and the Commission, providing inspiring examples of replicable good practices with a range of different, but equally important, benefits for their communities and regions, based on local needs and challenges.

- The Common Agricultural Policy and Horizon Europe’s integration of digital objectives reflects the EU’s holistic approach: linking connectivity with innovation, skills, and competitiveness.

- Through submarine cable and 5G projects, EU investment secures both resilience and inclusion: from the physical protection of outermost regions against isolation to the provision of advanced digital services in small towns.

- The session demonstrated how rural, remote and outermost regions are increasingly central to Europe’s digital strategy, showing that well-planned investment can turn geographic barriers into assets.

- The community co-creation model (operator, NGO, foundation, startups, university, locals) embodies the idea of inclusive, place-based innovation that contributes powerfully to the ‘right to stay’.

- Local intermediaries such as municipalities and parish councils play a vital role in fostering inclusion by reaching isolated residents and supporting them in using online tools and services, demonstrating that small-scale, place-based engagement can often achieve what broad national campaigns cannot.

- The use cases in the 5G Connected Danube Delta project (telemedicine, STEM education, tourism management, and environmental monitoring) show how digitalisation underpins both sustainability and economic diversification.

- In remote and island regions, connectivity is not a convenience but a critical enabler of territorial cohesion, essential for equal access to healthcare, education and economic opportunity.

- Resilient backbone infrastructure is a prerequisite for regional sustainability: the CEF Digital-supported replacement of the Azores’ submarine cables demonstrates how redundancy, geographic diversity and robust service-level design can safeguard connectivity in vulnerable environments.

- Digital connectivity can also be an engine of innovation and skilled employment. By leveraging improved infrastructure, the Azores are developing maritime, space and research clusters, showing how small and remote regions can reposition themselves as testbeds and gateways in Europe’s digital and green transitions.

- The discussions made clear that connectivity alone is not enough: it must be inclusive, resilient, and people-centred to ensure that every territory can participate fully in Europe’s digital decade. Sustained investment, coordinated action, and advocacy at all levels will be essential to keep rural, remote, and outermost regions connected, not only to stay, but to prosper.