The development of Future Outlooks is an important step in each of the 12 regional Foresight exercises of the POLIRURAL project. For our purposes, the exploration of future outlooks based on the use of scenarios, corresponds to the exploration of policy options to achieve specific goals, or address specific challenges that feature in the action plan, an essential output of the Foresight process. In particular, this work provides a laboratory in which to test the use of system dynamic modelling, as a way for comparing different policy options. Before delving into the methodology however, it is useful recall the overall goal of the project, how this will be achieved and what we have leaned since we started.

One of the goals of the POLIRURAL project is to explore the phenomenon of “new entrants” as a factor in the sustainable growth and development of rural economies. The approach taken is based on a series of 12 regional Foresight initiatives, in the EU and neighbourhood countries. The regional Foresight exercises are run as independent exercises. Each is driven by the specific needs of each region. In each case the process and sequence of events are based on a schedule determined by local conditions in collaboration with major stakeholders. The goal is that each of the 12 exercises will produce a Vision, Action Plan, and Roadmap that is:

• endorsed by major stakeholders in the economic and social life of the region, and

• adopted by major actors in regional administration, who will ensure the execution of the action plan and the realization of the vision, based on the timing laid out in the roadmap.

Each of these Foresight exercises is intended to provide a realistic environment in which to explore:

• concepts such as “new entrants” to the rural regional economies,

• related concepts such as “rural attractiveness,”

• the use of Text Mining as a productivity tool in the execution of regional Foresight, and

• the use of System Dynamic Modelling as a tool for stakeholder engagement and learning by diverse groups about the dynamics of complex socio-economic systems.

Read more at:

https://polirural.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/D1.8..pdf

• The Green Growth Platform is proud to announce that the HorizonEurope project BioRural has been launched!
• 19 partners from 14 different European countries met on September 08. and September 09. 2022 in Athens, Greece for the kick off.
• The aim of the project is to accelerate the transfer of small scale bio-based solutions to European rural areas.

The main objective of BioRural is to create a pan-European Rural Bioeconomy Network under which stakeholders will cooperate to promote currently available small-scale bio-based solutions in rural areas. Such a framework will contribute in bridging the gap between available novel high-end bio-based solutions and the everyday life of rural European citizens by assessing the existing situation of the European rural Bioeconomy, capturing grassroots-level needs and ideas, promoting effective exchange of knowledge and information and investigating the business opportunities for regional development through bio-based solutions integration in rural Europe. This way, BioRural will develop a transition framework towards a sustainable, regenerative, inclusive and just circular Bioeconomy across all Europe at local and regional scale and support innovators to scale-up inclusive and small-scale bio-based solutions in rural areas.

BioRural aims to achieve this through a three-pillar intervention scheme. First, BioRural will provide a framework to increase knowledge for rural stakeholders by addressing information gaps, conducting knowledge exchange workshops, and the development of an BioRural Toolkit that makes research results widely accessible. Second, BioRural will create a wide network of stakeholders in a regional and pan-European level to interconnect actors that can boost circular Bioeconomy growth through the development of a European Rural Bioeconomy Network centred around 4 regional Rural Bioeconomy Platforms and Bioeconomy success stories supported by a series of capacity building actions. Third, BioRural will develop Business model blueprints for each of the 5 main Bioeconomy themes that support the entrepreneurial establishment and maturation of future innovative bio-based solutions for rural areas and also ensure the post-project sustainability of the Bioeconomy Network and the BioRural Toolkit.

PoliRural H2020 Project Newsletter 13 is now available. Within the document you can find the latest information of the Project, including:

The Project Ploutos Newsletter No.3 is out now!

Within the document you can find the latest information about the sustainable innovations pilots of the Ploutos project, including:

• Precision Farming
• Food Waste
• Soil Passport
• Who’s the Boss?

The pilots are focused on innovation co-design, validation and assessment of the approaches implemented across the agri-food sector.

For more information about the Ploutos project, make sure you visit: https://ploutos-h2020.eu/

The entire Newsletter No.3 can be found HERE.

The report completed by PoliRural partners summarizes the results of the mission-oriented approach implementation in the pilot regions. It provides an insight on context and needs of pilot regions by outlining the issues of concern and context that create the basis for the regional visions and the purpose of the regional foresight process. The document provides information of policy challenges, intervention measures and KPIs that form the core of the Regional Action Plans.

Policy challenges and measures are analyzed and clustered by the four main strands of the Long-Term Vision for Rural Areas:

– stronger rural areas,

– connected rural areas,

– resilient rural areas that foster well-being,

– prosperous rural areas.

Some of the conclusions are the following:

• The majority of challenges identified by pilot regions are primarily related to the PROSPERITY of rural areas, particularly to the various reasons currently hindering the diversification of economic activities;
• The absence or low quality of digital infrastructure, limited skills and abilities to use advantages of good broadband, and poorly digitalized traditional sectors of the economy are central issues hindering pilot regions from becoming better CONNECTED rural areas;
• Pilot regions have identified just a few RESILIENCE-oriented challenges related to the ability to adapt to climate change, reducing the carbon footprint and nature protection;
• The pilot regions see improved governance of their regions as one of the most important results of the foresight process;
• The main precondition for digitalization and modernization of agriculture, industry and services is the availability and coverage of high-quality broadband and digital infrastructure in rural areas;
• The role of digital connectivity and the transition of the traditional economy is seen as an essential element that may contribute to the diversification of traditional sectors of the rural economy concerning the digitization of the agricultural industry and digital capacity building in the rural areas.

You can find more info about the D6.2 Regional Action Plans on the following links:

https://bit.ly/3ubnGGG

https://bit.ly/3OybeZy

Ex-ante Evaluation report for Polirural Pilot 11 Gevgelija –Strumica is available at the LINK. 

Polirural Foresight Summit was held on the 11^th of March 2022. Pilot leaders presented the further improvements of regional action plans. Project partners used the opportunity also to discuss about the Long-Term Vision for Rural Areas and the SDM tool application.

Polirural Atlas of the best practices is presenting another story about the new entrant case study of Dragan Mishevski from Pilot11 in North Macedonia.

,,My interest in beekeeping started about 2 years ago, while I was helping another beekeeper to build a portable trailer for transportation of beehives. While working on these construction activities I became increasingly interested in bees and their way of living. From that point, with the help of the beekeeper where I was working on his trailer, I started production of honey with several beehives” – said Mishevski.

Read more at the following LINK.

Cities2030 partners join for Data management training.

This session provided a practical guide for the principles for data collection and data sharing.