Vol. 11 No. 2 (2025)
June

Articles

The smart village concept from 1.0 to 4.0 in the context of ICT entrepreneurship development in the Polish villages

Published 2025-06-30

  • Hanna Godlewska-Majkowska
    • ,
  • Agnieszka Komor
    • ,
  • Patrycjusz Zarębski

Hanna Godlewska-Majkowska
SGH Warsaw School of Economics

Agnieszka Komor
University of Life Sciences in Lublin

Patrycjusz Zarębski
Koszalin University of Technology

Abstract

Objective: The article aims to show the development process of smart villages from 1.0 to 4.0, analogous to the smart cities development, along with indicating the conditions of this process. Moreover, the goal was to examine how ICT enterprises influence the development of smart villages at the 1.0 level in rural areas and what their connections are with other sections of economic activity (based on the example of Poland).

Research Design & Methods: The study used statistical data from Statistics Poland (GUS). We used methods of cartographic presentation of data on the share of technology enterprises (Section J 62) and support enterprises (Section J63) in the total number of enterprises in rural areas in Poland, as well as changes in the share of these companies in Poland in 2012-2023. We analysed the enterprise structure in municipalities characterised by a high share of ICT enterprises according to the type of municipality (functional urban, border, and other). We used the network analysis method to identify ICT enterprises’ links with other economy sectors.

Findings: The ICT enterprises have numerous linkages with other sections, indicating their key role in providing the ICT technologies necessary for the smart villages development. We also found that rural municipalities with the highest share of ICT firms located in close proximity to cities have a high concentration of firms providing business-related services and services to residents. In the border municipalities with the highest share of ICT companies, we identified a high share of the sections responsible for administration and defence, tourism, and agriculture, while a distinctive feature of the other municipalities is the high share of companies involved in transport and storage management.

Implications & Recommendations: Among the actions to support the further development of smart villages, we identified the following: strengthening the links between ICT entrepreneurship and other key economic activities for smartification processes, expanding ICT infrastructure, supporting local initiatives through funding and advice, promoting education and training in new technologies for villagers, and encouraging cross-sectoral cooperation through the creation of platforms for the exchange of knowledge and experience.

Contribution & Value Added: We may consider the smart villages concept in analogy to the smart city concept as an innovation organising spatial structures according to a new pattern. We present the development of smart villages from 1.0 to 4.0 in analogy to the development of the smart city, together with a presentation of the conditions of this process related to the specificity of rural areas.

Keywords

smart villages, entrepreneurship, rural areas, ICT, smartification processes, network analysis

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Author Biography

Hanna Godlewska-Majkowska

Professor, Head of Institute of Enterprise, Collegium of Business Administration at SGH Warsaw School of Economics, Poland; vice-rector at SGH Warsaw School of Economics in 2016–2020. Her research interests include issues in local and regional development, business location, and investment attractiveness of regions and are and are linked to her role as an expert in local government units.

Agnieszka Komor

PhD in Economics, Assistant Professor at University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Department of Management and Marketing (Poland). Her research interests include regional and local development, smart economy, bioeconomy, and circular economy.

Patrycjusz Zarębski

PhD in Economics, Assistant Professor at Koszalin University of Technology, Department of Economics, (Poland). His research interests include local development and innovation systems.

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