농촌 정주환경 개선을 위한 사회적 혁신정책 추진 방안

Abstract

농촌은 인구 과소화에 따른 공공·생활서비스의 축소로 인해 정주환경이 열악해져왔다. 그럼에도 불구하고, 농업·농촌에 관심을 가지고 농촌에서 새로운 시작을 도모하는 사람들이 늘어나고 있다. 농촌 지역의 활력을 기대할 수 있는 기회의 시기에 다양한 주민 수요에 부응하는 정주환경을 갖추는 것이 중요한 과제로 떠오르고 있다.

한편, 4차 산업혁명 등 과학기술이 가져올 새로운 미래에 대한 기대와 우려가 교차하는 현 시점에서, 과학기술의 사회적 가치에 대한 관심이 증가하고 있다. 사회문제 해결, 정주환경 개선, 국민 삶의 질 개선을 위한 혁신 활동을 촉진하는 정책이 다방면에서 추진되고 있다. 과학기술에 기반하여 기존 공공·생활서비스 전달체계를 개선하고, 정주 인프라를 혁신하는 것은 농촌 정주환경 개선에 있어서도 긴요한 수단으로 활용될 수 있다.

하지만, 농촌 정주환경 개선을 위한 혁신 정책 추진에 앞서, 농촌의 고유한 수요와 혁신 여건을 분석한 연구는 드물다. 주거, 교육, 교통, 보건·복지 등 농촌 정주환경 각 영역에서 혁신 수요를 정리하고, 혁신 여건을 분석하여 정책 추진 방향과 과제를 도출할 필요가 있다.

Background of the Study Due the weakening demand owing to depopulation and aging population, the rural settlement conditions related to public and living service are in a difficult situation and it is unlikely to be improved in a short period of time. There is also a limit to the way to improve the settlement conditions by simply expanding financial input. Recently, the social innovation policy that focuses on the social value of technological innovation is spreading as a new tendency of innovation policy. Social innovation policies and outcomes focusing on social values such as social problem solving can be utilized to improve the rural settlement environment through provision of new public and living services. However, innovation policy and support projects for improving the rural settlement environment are not being systematically implemented compared to urban areas or other policy sectors. The purpose of this study is to present the direction and tasks of social innovation policy using technology to improve the rural settlement environment. In order to achieve this, we identified the social innovation demands for improvement of rural settlement conditions and analyzed social innovation conditions for improvement of the rural settlement environment.

Study Methods In this study, we conducted literature review, statistical data analysis, an expert questionnaire survey, field visit survey, and focus group interviews. For the literature review, domestic and foreign research, science and technology, relevant ministries’ plans, policies, projects, and policy programs in foreign countries regarding social innovation policy were reviewed. For the statistical data analysis, the existing statistical data on the rural settlement environment were reviewed, and the characteristics of the innovation activities were compared and analyzed by extracting the national R&D project information on the urban and rural settlement environment from the national R&D project database. The questionnaire survey on the demand for rural social innovation was conducted with experts in the rural environment field. In addition, interviews were conducted at sites where the policies and programs related to social innovation are being carried out. Lastly, focus group interviews were conducted with experts in traffic, education, housing and energy sectors to investigate rural social innovation demands and policy tasks.

Results and Implications The constraint factors of revitalization of rural social innovation were derived by analyzing the conditions of the innovation policy implementation regarding the improvement of the rural settlement environment. The basic plan for the innovation activities regarding the rural settlement environment was found to be insufficient. In consequence, the financial input for innovation activities regarding improvement of the rural settlement environment was lower than that of urban areas. Also, the number and diversity of entities participating in R & D with interest in improvement of the rural settlement environment were relatively low compared to urban areas. Lastly, since the innovation entities are concentrated in urban areas, the base of innovation entities to address the demands of rural areas is poor. The expert demand survey was conducted to derive the demand for social innovation in rural transportation, education, housing, energy, health and welfare sectors. We found that in order to improve rural education conditions, it is necessary to develop educational contents that can be used in rural areas and demonstrate an ICT-based school operation model. Also, in order to improve rural transportation conditions, it is necessary to carry out a variety of empirical studies at the local level for the promotion of national R&D projects including the utilization of unmanned vehicles and improvement of regional traffic safety conditions. The survey result suggested that development and application of low-cost rural housing and energy supply models and distribution of living technology for saving heating costs are needed for improvement of rural housing and energy condition. In addition, it is found that regarding each social innovation demand, there is a difficulty in activating actual innovation due to the constraint factors mentioned above. There is a need for research and development at the national level, but the mid- to long-term national R&D tasks and empirical research on rural areas are insufficient. Thus, it is necessary to increase the proportion of settlement environment-related innovative activities of agricultural and rural innovation entities and to expand a cooperation network with other sectors. Furthermore, it is necessary to nurture competent authorities to carry out the educational projects and strengthen capacity to promote the technology development, technology dissemination and education business with an interest in the rural issue. Based on the results of the analysis, the direction of the social innovation policy and the policy tasks for improving the rural settlement environment were derived. First, in relation to the policy implementation system, it is necessary to include social innovation-related policy measures such as R&D for improvement of the rural settlement environment and technology diffusion in the basic plans for agri-food science and technology and the rural settlement environment. Second, it is necessary to systematically identify the demands for rural social innovation based on the relevant plan. Third, it is necessary to reflect the innovation programs in policies and projects for rural development. Fourth, it is necessary to cultivate various types of entities that are able to carry out innovation activities with interest in social problems in rural areas by utilizing existing policies and projects such as cultivation of rural community companies. Lastly, in addition to the existing research areas, the innovation organizations in the agricultural and rural sectors are required to expand their functions to actively promote innovation activities for the improvement of the rural settlement environment.

Researchers: Jeong Dochae, Kim Yongwook, Kim Gyeongin Research period: 2018. 1. ~ 2018. 10. E-mail address: dcchung@krei.re.kr