Wolfgang Dorner
Professor for geospatial computing and head of the Institute of Applied Informatics at the Deggendorf Institute of Technology
Wolfgang Dorner was born and raised in Landshut (Bavaria). After his time as a professional soldier and officer in the Mountain Troops of the German Armed Forces he studied engineering and geomatics in Munich, Deggendorf and Salzburg and received his doctoral degree from the University of Southern Queensland (Australia). At the age of 33 he was appointed professor for computer science at Deggendorf Institute of Technology (DIT).
In 2009 Wolfgang started researching at Technology Campus Freyung (TC), a remote research centre of the Deggendorf Institute of Technology. His work is focused on computer science and biomimicry in the Bavarian Forest. For now almost ten years he has been leading the TC Freyung and the Institute of Applied Informatics of THD. Having started with a small team of two persons, the institute is now academic home to over 40 scientists and assistants.
While being dedicated to high tech and to international collaboration, the support of the region remains to be one of the main objectives of the institute. It has become a showcase for proving that rural surroundings and high tech are not a contradiction. Wolfgang is also a lecturer for the joint "Venture Development Program" of Santa Clara University (California) and Deggendorf University (THD). His expertise has been sought for by several rural communities and districts interested in building up structures in rural development.
Rural development in the digital age
Digital transformation in parts of our society can be a threat to rural communities: Internet and smartphone based business models, mainly targeting urban areas, are attacking established business models in villages and small towns (e.g. retail) and shatter the economic basis of these already fragile structures. Rural development is an established instrument in most communities, but currently does not seem to have instruments to turn digitalisation into an opportunity. Quite often "high speed" internet access is seen as the main problem and its improvement is emphasized as the main response.
However, rural development and digitalisation might complement each other: Digitalisation is driven by start-ups and tech-centric companies. Their development of new services requires a test market that fulfils several criteria: (a) user group willing to test a product and support the development of the product through feedback, (b) a need or demand that can be solved or a benefit achieved by offering digital substitutes instead of the established solutions, (3) the possibility to scale from the test market to other regions with similar structure and demand. If we enable rural development to fill some gaps and play its role as moderator of processes and driver in a network of rural stakeholders, rural areas may well fulfil all three aspects.
We need to shift the focus of rural development partially and enable the agencies to better understand the mechanics of the digital transformation. Agencies have to be enabled to use modern approaches such as design thinking, open innovation and lean and human centred development. In rural development communities we need to bring together our established groups of "worried and involved" citizens seeking for potentials to develop the region with (potential) and tech driven entrepreneurs.