ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on territorial factors affecting rural development in Period 4.0. It explains about developing the potential of the digital economy, especially to associated digital regions. The concept of the ‘digital region’ has more recently emerged in relation to, firstly, the notion of ‘digital infrastructure’, and secondly, the assumption of universal Internet coverage across territories. The broader concept of the ‘digital economy’ has been more widely used, both in the academic literature and in strategic documents, in connection with strong, progressive digitisation across territories. The digital economy has a significant potential in terms of boosting GDP growth. The territorial distribution of such effects, though, is unclear. The parameters of future developments within the digital economy, from a territorial point of view, are equally unclear. From a territorial point of view, the parameters of the digital economy ecosystem are exclusively dependent on the availability of high-speed Internet.
