Research project on Rural Digital Potential

Rural England has today (12th March 2018) published the final report from the research project on digital potential, which you may recall was commissioned from it (in partnership with Scotland’s Rural College) by Amazon.

The report explores how rural based businesses currently use digital technologies.  It then examines what benefits they derive from this, what constraints they face to digital take-up and what economic potential could be released if those constraints were addressed.  It includes some recommendations which aim to address the identified constraints.

There has, of course, been a great deal of attention paid to issues of broadband and mobile connectivity in rural areas.  The focus of this report is rather on what rural businesses do with that connectivity and their appetite for digital adoption.

The full research report can be accessed here