How can 5G be the guardian of our forests?

A lot of attention has traditionally been given to digitalization of smart cities and urban areas. However, bridging the digital dive for the rural areas has become necessary to exploit the full economic growth from new technologies since many industries also belong to the countryside. This paper introduces novel insights into use cases from the forest industry and the perceived impact from innovations activated from technologies such as the fifth-generation mobile technology (5G) and Internet of Things (IoT). An agile methodology is followed developing the forest use cases to handle the risk and uncertainty within this domain. After interviews with stakeholders from the forest value chain we found that digitalization of the forest value chain is necessary. We also found three distinct use cases with different scenarios where premium cellular network (5G) connection can make an impact. The potential impact dimensions were identified and operationalized in three groups: business, user/society, and environment. Our findings will set the scene for the forthcoming specification of the use case requirements and the validation of Proof of Concept’s (PoC’s) during the next step in our agile methodology. Our work is funded through Horizon Europe program COMMECT and PoC’s trial results from the Norwegian forest living lab will be published at a later stage.

The next generation network technology 5G introduces new business opportunities for telecom operators that can help them mitigate their declining revenues. 5G reduce the network latency and enables a massive number of Internet of Things (IoT) devices to be connected to its network. This paper proposes a co-creative approach for telecom operators when they exploit 5G/IoT technologies in industry use cases in rural communities and builds upon the concept of collaborative business modelling. Partnering with providers of digital niche services and in-depth understanding of users’ pains and challenges is key when establishing “beyond connectivity” solutions. Moreover, the collaborative model secure long-term survivability in which all ecosystem stakeholders benefit through participation, hence moving away from individual profit maximization. The initial design of the collaborative business model occurs as a part of an agile development process, in which stakeholder needs, and requirement are uncovered together with technical trials and commercial validation of suggested solutions (MVP's/protocepts). Our findings provide novel insights towards the understanding of how collaborative business models support the deployment of enhanced connectivity enabled solutions (remote operation support and fire situation awareness service) in the forestry industry in rural areas of Norway, as well as the role of the telecom operator in orchestrating the ecosystem. Updated business models based on forthcoming development and trials of these two solutions will be presented in later publications.

Currently, telco operators are experiencing decline in revenues and therefore exploring new business opportunities through innovative digital solutions directed towards industry and the public sector. Previous research on digitalization has focused on urban communities and smart cities and less on rural areas, where the digital divide is more frequent. The EU wants to revitalize local communities through enhanced connectivity-based solutions for businesses, farmers, institutions, and families. Eliminating the digital divide in rural communities is vital if we want to fully draw on the effects of digitalization with respect to increased efficiency and reduced climate and environmental impact. The Horizon Europe project COMMECT (Connecting Communities) is such a vehicle for the revitalization of rural industries in five countries in Europe, including Norway which hosts the Connected forestry Living Lab. This article proposes a method for assessing the social and economic impacts of connectivity-based solutions such as fifth generation (5G) mobile networks and the Internet of Things on the most important steps of the forestry value chain. The method proposes assessment of expected impacts early in the development process through trials of protocepts/proofs of concepts/minimum viable products in laboratory environments prior to more extensive field trials in the intended environments. The proposed method is novel and applicable to the assessment of the impacts of digitalization beyond the forestry industry.