EMPOWERING RURAL COMMUNITIES TO ACT FOR CHANGE - RURACTIVE - HORIZON EUROPE PROJECT with JHI contribution supported by UK Research and Innovation
RURACTIVE (Grant agreement ID: 101084377; UKRI Reference Number: 10069340) is a new Horizon Europe Project (1 September 2023 - 31 August 2027) aims to promote equitable and sustainable change in rural areas by developing and testing smart, community-led, tailor-made, place-based and inclusive solutions within local "Multi-Actor Rural Innovation Ecosystems" in 12 pilot regions, the RURACTIVE Dynamos (Ds), in 7 EU, 2 Associated Countries and Switzerland. It will achieve this goal through knowledge exchange, capacity building and research and stakeholder networking. The innovation potential of local communities will be unlocked by addressing the following drivers for rural development: multimodal mobility, energy transition, agri-food and agro-ecology, culture and cultural innovation, health and well-being, and nature and cultural tourism, as well as the cross-cutting topics of tackling climate change, protecting biodiversity, and promoting social justice, social cohesion and inclusion.
RURACTIVE aims to make available existing knowledge on smart solutions (including from our work under the Scottish Government Strategic Research Programme, e.g. on JHI-D5-1, and H2020 SIMRA, SHERPA, DESIRA and other projects), to address different forms of innovation (digital and technological, technical, organizational and social, business models and financial) and to strengthen the capacities and capabilities of rural communities. It is designed to enable rural community actors and policy makers to develop better strategies, innovative initiatives and policies to promote the transition to sustainable development by improving the understanding of the different rural functions, characteristics and future scenarios of rural regions, their potentials and challenges.
By offering an open set of data-driven tools (DST, Adaptive Monitoring tool), a digital infrastructure (Digital Hub), and defining a programme for external Innovators, RURACTIVE will provide a fertile ground for change in rural areas, especially those that currently can be classified as 'marginalised' (SIMRA, 2020). Results will be out-scaled through knowledge exchanges and networking at European level (open contest for Additional Ds and RURACTIVE Forum), the deployment of training and capacity building activities for further rural communities and the creation of open e-learning courses and the MOOC.
The RURACTIVE project is coordinated by ALMA MATER STUDIORUM - UNIVERSITA DI BOLOGNA, with the contribution from the James Hutton Institute going across the WPs and its leadership on the WP2: Conceptual and Operational Framework for Rural Community Development. The kick-off meeting of RURACTIVE is taking place in Bologna, Italy, 13-15 September, 2023.
To date the James Hutton Institute team consists of Ruth Wilson, Diana Valero and Maria Nijnik, of the Social, Economic and Geographical Science Department, and David Miller and Margaret McKeen of Information and Computational Sciences.
For further insights, please contact Prof Dr Maria Nijnik (PI) maria.nijnik@hutton.ac.uk
