Rural areas and agriculture are facing major economic, social and environmental challenges in relation to climate change, the loss of biodiversity and water supply (see Long-term Vision for EU Rural Areas, Rural Pact, EU Rural Action Plan). There are also socio-economic challenges such as low income, demographic changes and difficult access to services in rural areas. As a result, there is a need for improved innovative business and production models in rural areas that have a positive impact on the sustainability of the various economic sectors in rural areas. Technological, process and organisational innovation must be taken into account, as well as their economic, environmental and social impacts. The Horizon Europe project NEXRUR (Next Generation Sustainable Business Models and Monitoring for Rural Resilience and Innovation) with 22 partners from EU countries and 9 from China offers the opportunity to present a wide variety of approaches to innovative rural areas and to analyse their effects.
Objective
The main objective of NEXRUR is to explore the innovation dynamics and strategies for change in rural areas through international cooperation between EU countries and also China to enable farmers and their communities to develop, select and disseminate new or improved sustainable business models and to monitor their economic, social and environmental impacts, including resilience. The focus is on ‘Community Led Agricultural Business Models’. It is important to involve the relevant stakeholders, promote dialogue and cooperation, develop methods for analysis and indicators for monitoring and also promote the implementation and dissemination of innovative business models.
Work in 2025
As the official project start date was not until 1 October 2025, the work mainly consisted of formal preparations for the grant agreement, the consortium agreement, the work contract for the Austrian case study and the organisation of the distribution of tasks between BAB and BAB Project. It is planned to carry out part of the project work via BAB Project. The kick-off meeting for the European part of the project took place from 22 to 24 October in Potsdam, Germany.
- Formal preparatory work and information gathering, stakeholder mapping for the Austrian case study FoodCoop ‘S'Gartl’;
- Preparatory work and conception for the early and substantial involvement of stakeholders in the case studies for the overall project;
Planned work for 2026
BAB is involved in all work packages of the project, will provide comments and information on the Austrian situation and contribute experience from previous EU projects (LIVERUR, SIMRA), e.g. on the presentation of specific concepts of community-led businesses and on monitoring indicators. However, the focus of the work at the start of the project will be on work packages 2 and 3: on the one hand, the analysis – in accordance with the specifications developed in the project – of the Austrian case study (FoodCoop s'Gartl in Upper Austria, Willkommen - s'Gartl) in close cooperation with the initiative, and on the other hand, work on the joint organisation of so-called national stakeholder panels for all case studies. Most of the work within the scope of the case study will be carried out by BAB Project.
Schedule
Project start: 01/2025
Project end: 12/2029
