*4.1.1 Territorial distribution*

Although at its peak, technologies appear to be patchily distributed. As a matter of fact, there is a significant divide between rural and urban areas in terms of fast

### *Digital Innovation and Sustainable Development: Two Sides of the Same Coin DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.112294*

and ultra-fast coverage of digital infrastructures. Even if broadband connectivity was already almost universally developed in 2019 (99.9%), fast or ultra-fast connectivity coverage, a prerequisite for using the latest available technologies and services, is uneven [184]. This divergence is also detectable across European regions and the rural-urban divide in users' digital skills. Looking at European data, just over one quarter (26%) of the EU population aged 16–74 years revealed above-basic overall digital skills in 2021, whose 33 percent is of people living in cities, while a lower proportion of people living in towns and suburbs 24 per-cent and in rural areas 20 percent. European Commission has also been committed to analyzing the E-Government rate in European countries, concluding that the shortage of e-services available to citizens is present at both regional and local levels and is unlikely to create a pull effect in promoting digital competencies. Shedding light on e-Government, it refers to the state of play within online Government services across Europe, continually improving the platforms for citizens, businesses, tourists, and expat communities. Specifically, the European top seed countries in e-Government are with 97% score Malta, followed by Estonia (92%), Austria, and Latvia (87%). The following countries are Denmark (84%), Lithuania (83%), and Finland (83%). Regarding progress, Luxembourg, Hungary, and Slovenia have made the most incredible advances in the last 2 years, rising by 20, 19, and 18 percentage points, respectively (reaching scores of 79, 63, and 72%). The last European countries, occupying the last places with a rate under 50%, are Serbia and Romania respectively, growing with a rate of 5 and 7%, thus slightly lowering the gap between front runners and laggards [185].

Having ascertained that disparity, it raises the necessity to understand the hindering factors to a homogeneous digital innovation. Given the diversity of rural areas in Europe, including their different degree of peripherality, and the fact that the digital divide is shrinking globally [186], it can be argued that the issue of digitization of rural areas may be intended as a classic one of geography. That is why it can be related to the differences in access to specific goods due to geographical location. Geographical location, also in terms of access to ICTs, affects the social and economic vitality of rural areas. For instance, Grimes [187] underlines that precisely peripheral rural areas, which largely do not participate in the development process, can benefit most from digitization. It is a fact that digital innovation can overcome the state of isolation of these areas by strengthening the linkage with urban centers, that is, the distance that could only be reduced to a limited extent physically (e.g., by improving transport accessibility to such areas). Another positive impact can be the easy access to some goods and services, which, in case of the lack of access, especially to the Internet, are more easily accessed in cities than in the countryside. Finally, access to Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) supports participation in all interactions between people, which could be less frequent in the countryside because of a lower population density [188]. The following section will deeply analyze the potential impact digital innovation can have on rural territories, also known as marginalized, isolated, and inner areas.

### **4.2 The impact on the inner areas**
