Around one third of EU citizens (two thirds in Austria) live in rural regions, but GDP per capita there is below average. The inequalities between urban and rural communities in demographic, economic and social terms are the subject of scientific projects and political programs. It is necessary to enable rural areas to compensate for disadvantages and to make greater use of potential with innovative solutions (green and digital transformation). The Horizon Europe project RURACTIVE aims to develop scientific principles and methods to support the development of rural communities and to implement these in the dynamos (pilot regions).
Objective
RURACTIVE aims to promote equitable and sustainable change in rural areas by developing and testing smart, community-led, customised, place-based and inclusive solutions within local Multi-Actor Rural Innovation Ecosystems in 12 dynamos. RURACTIVE aims to unleash the innovation potential of rural communities by addressing six integrated drivers for rural development: multimodal mobility, energy transition, agri-food and agroecology, culture and cultural innovation, health and well-being, and nature-based and cultural tourism. Transversal topics such as climate protection and adaptation, biodiversity, social justice and integration are integrated.
RURACTIVE aims to make available existing knowledge on smart solutions, address different forms of innovation and strengthen the capacities and capabilities of rural communities. The ultimate goal is to enable rural community stakeholders and policy makers to develop better strategies, initiatives and policies that promote the transition to sustainable development of rural communities by improving the understanding of the different rural functions, characteristics and future scenarios of rural regions, their potentials and challenges.
Over the four project years, the BAB acts as an interface between the scientific work and specifications of the university project partners and their implementation in the Austrian example region of southern Burgenland (the Austrian project partner is the Burgenland Economic Agency/WAB). The main topics in southern Burgenland are mobility, nature and cultural tourism, food production and agroecology as well as culture and cultural innovations.
Status of the work
The RURACTIVE project was launched in 2024 with many activities in the individual work packages. At the beginning of the year, the BAB developed six solutions that will be included in the RURACTIVE solutions catalogue. This catalogue will be continuously expanded during the course of the project. Together with the practice partner WAB, challenges were formulated for the South Burgenland study region, which will be implemented over the course of the project. There were several regional events such as the Open Day and the first local workshop in the study region, which were organised by the practice partner and the BAB. The BAB is involved in all work packages. In addition to two consortium meetings including peer-to-peer exchange - Gotland (SE) on the topics of renewable energy and multimodal mobility and Zamora (ES) on the topic of digital medical care in rural areas - there were monthly online dynamo meetings and other online meetings in various work packages in which the project team took part.
Planned work 2025
In 2025, a total of three more local workshops will be held in southern Burgenland and the implementation of the challenges will begin. It is possible to apply for project funding for this in the RURACTIVE Open Call. In addition to the numerous online meetings, there will be two consortium meetings. In autumn 2025, the practice partner WAB will organise a peer-to-peer exchange for the entire RURACTIVE project team together with BAB in the South Burgenland study region. In addition, there are ongoing tasks in the individual work packages that are carried out by BAB.
Schedule
Project start: 03/2023
Project end: 12/2027
