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Smart Islands project

1. Introduction

1.1 Methodology of the EESC project

The Smart Islands project is based on the EESC TEN section’s own-initiative opinion TEN/558 on Smart
Islands, which was adopted on 19 March 2015. The project aims to gather feedback from island
communities and to identify best practices introduced on some of the islands, which could suggest
similar or adapted solutions for other island communities in the EU. In practical terms, the EESC is
identifying remarkable infrastructures and network initiatives developed and often implemented in
an interactive way.

The methodology is based on:
• the identification of islands, based on the current definition¹: territories with a minimum of 1km²,
a minimum distance between the island and the mainland of 1km, a resident population of more
than 50 inhabitants, and no fixed link (such as a bridge, tunnel or dyke) between the island and the
mainland;

• the location in Europe’s oceans and seas: Aegean Sea, Atlantic Ocean, Baltic Sea, Mediterranean Sea,
North Sea;
• six fact-finding missions;

• a questionnaire sent to local players.

1.2 Geographical information on the islands

The project focused on Île d’Yeu in France, Mallorca in Spain, Favignana in Italy, Samsø in Denmark,
Kythnos in Greece and Saaremaa in Estonia.
These islands represent a sample of islands in the EU. They range in surface area between 23.32km² for
Île d’Yeu and 2 714km² for Saaremaa, 38.32km² for Favignana, 99km² for Kythnos, 114.26km² for Samsø,
and 208km² for Mallorca. Geographically, the islands are spread across the Aegean, Mediterranean,
North and Baltic Seas and the Atlantic Ocean.

1.3 Challenges

Despite their differences, all these islands face the same challenges: overcoming the difficulties
associated with geographical separation and distance from the mainland; solving the conundrum
of public facilities that need to be able to meet peak demand during the tourist season but may
be excessive for most of the year (information and communication technologies, energy, transport,
waste collection and processing, sewage treatment, etc.); maintaining the demography; organising
the necessary educational structures and providing vocational training and jobs for local people;
guaranteeing the livelihoods of people working in the tourist industry, who have short seasons and
often perform several different jobs; protecting the natural coastal and marine environment that
is put under significant pressure at certain times of year; finding the necessary funding to provide
public services when the year-round population is often small and ageing; and providing affordable
housing for young people when holiday homes, the protection of natural areas and limitations on
areas approved for building development all lead to high housing costs.
The size and population of Mallorca mean that it is very different from the other islands visited, with
their small size and low population. In general, islands constitute a concentrated version of the
economic, social and environmental difficulties encountered on the mainland, albeit exacerbated by
their limited size.

1 Fifth report on economic, social and territorial cohesion, European Commission, COM(2010) 642, 2010, or http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/sources/docoffic/official/
reports/cohesion5/index_en.cfm

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