In 2020, the European-funded "Smart Rural 21" initiative called for the participation of villages across Europe. In response to this opportunity, a working group was formed in Estonia to select those villages best suited for participation. The working group members included representatives from the Ministry of Rural Affairs, Ministry of Social Affairs, Estonian Rural Network, Village movement “Kodukant”, the Estonian Leader Union, and the Union of Estonian Towns and Municipalities. Many villages came forward across Estonia and were keen to participate in the project. However, only one village, called Virtsu, was selected. Nevertheless, the positive response to the call showed that many local communities were interested in the Smart Village topic, and this prompted the Estonian LEADER LAGs and the working group to come up with the idea of designing a Smart Village project themselves for Estonia. In this way, they could respond to the existing demand expressed by communities, and design relevant support activities to create Smart Village strategies and activities. The project was, therefore, inspired by the "Smart Rural 21" initiative, and adapted to the Estonian context. Estonia has a long tradition in the village movement, but the concept of a Smart Village sounded innovative and brought new energy.

The main objectives of the nationwide cooperative project were to support each participating village in their preparation of a Smart Village strategy, and to assist them in the implementation of relevant pilot actions. The project also sought to establish a national Smart Villages Network in Estonia, and to create close linkages with the European-wide Smart Rural 21 network. To enhance public awareness of and know-how about Smart Villages, the project aimed to promote the Smart Village strategies and the results of the various pilot actions through a range of communication activities targeted at governmental institutions and other Estonian villages. Finally, the ambition was that the participating LEADER LAGs would gain relevant experience on how to implement the Smart Village concept at the local level.

The project began with a cooperation agreement being signed between 13 partners at the beginning of 2021. This was followed by the selection of 1-3 villages/regions from each Estonian LAG region that would participate in the project. A survey was conducted to identify their specific needs and identify which skills would need enhancing. The results of the survey informed the development of a training programme that contained six training modules on various topics.

A pool of 13 specialists (representatives of local governments and leaders of cooperation networks related to rural areas) were selected to act as mentors. Their role was to assist the villages in the process of shaping their Smart Village strategy. Each village could choose the most suitable mentor, according to their village's characteristics, focuses, etc. Five working days of mentoring support was made available for each village.

The first year also saw the beginning of communication activities, including press releases, social media, website, etc.

Following the selection of 24 participating villages, an introductory event, including a first meeting and training, was conducted in June 2021. This was followed by study trips for the participating villages across Estonia to learn about inspiring projects and initiatives. Further training sessions on various topics were delivered in the second half of 2021.

In 2022, the participants completed their individual Smart Village strategies. Subsequently, relevant pilot activities were planned and implemented, whereby each village carried out at least one pilot activity. A grant of EUR 5 000 was available for each. Accompanying project activities included a mini-hackathon and a media campaign. This latter included articles describing the strategy process and pilot activities in municipal newspapers and the national rural newspaper.

In June 2022, a seminar summarised the strategy creation process and provided the opportunity to reflect on the state of the project activities at mid-term. Parallel study trips to Austria (Stanz) and Denmark (Torup) were completed later in the year. First, pilot activities commenced. A further seminar summarised the project, with a focus on sharing the experiences and lessons learned by the participating villages/regions and looking to future plans.

The final year of the project (2023) involved the continuation of the 24 pilot actions, and a final workshop focusing on the results and conclusions of the project in May 2023. In addition, a video was made about the project, presenting the results achieved.

The following quantitative and qualitative benefits were achieved: