The RURACTIVE project consortium held its kick-off meeting on 13, 14 and 15 September at the University of Bologna (Italy). These sessions have served as a meeting point for the partners to lay the foundations for the promotion of a just and sustainable transition of rural areas through intelligent and tailor-made solutions.
The aim of the project is to continue the fight against depopulation and the decline of rural areas through a just and sustainable transition. To achieve this, six integrated rural development drivers (RDD) – multimodal mobility, energy transition, agri-food and agroecology, culture and cultural innovation, health and wellbeing, cultural and nature-based tourism – will be applied in 12 pilot areas integrating climate change mitigation and adaptation, biodiversity, and social justice and inclusion. Through these proposals, the aim is to empower rural communities to act for change, to improve their capacities and skills, and to work on the decision-making of all actors involved.
The CARTIF research team involved in this proposal will establish the monitoring framework, define a comprehensive set of KPIs and early warning indicators, coordinate the development of open data-based tools – Data Management, Decision Support (DST) and Adaptive Monitoring (AMT) – and use the latter to evaluate the implementation and effectiveness of smart EIR solutions.
The aim of all these actions is to expand knowledge and exchange and networking; the coordination of tools for open courses and MOOCs, training and capacity building activities for other rural communities; and the continuous monitoring of the solutions, their mid-term evaluation and the final impact assessment of the developed action plans.
The RURACTIVE project consortium is composed of CARTIF, Alma Mater Sturdiorum – Universita di Bologna, Universita di Pisa, Eurice European Research and Project Office GMbH, Research and Innovation Service Doo za Usluge, Association Euoropeene pour L’Innovation dans le Developpment Local, Bundesanstalt Fur Agrarwirtschaft And Bergbauernfragen, Oulun Yliopisto, University College Dublin, National University Of Ireland, F6s Network Ireland Limited, Almende Bv, Uppsala Universitet, Cardet Centre For The Advancement Of Research & Development In Educational Technology Limited, Forza Agency For Sustainable Development Of The Carpathian Region Nonprofit Organization, Virtual Vehicle Research Gmbh, Borghiin Rete Di Imprese, Aps Borgofuturo, Diputacion De Zamora, Bioazul, Asociacion Balam Api, Urbanex Doo Za Gradevinarstvo, Grad Zadar, Region Gotland, Koinoniki Synetairistiki Epicheirisi Syllogikis Kai Koinonikis Ofeleias Oikomouseio Zagoriou Koinoniki Synetairistiki Epicheirisi, Institut D’arquitectura Avancada De Catalunya, Wirtschaftsagentur Burgenland Gmbh.