Author: Waseem Haider

PoliRural has developed the Deliverable D1.10. Regional Recommendations, that sets out to help regional teams align their action plans with high-level missions pursued by the EU. It critically examines the concept of mission orientation before turning to the analysis of instruments that drive transition to net zero (the Green Deal), recovery from Covid-19 (Recovery and Resilience Facility), and the development of a new model of agriculture and sustainability (CAP reform, Farm2Fork, biodiversity strategy).  It concludes with a set of recommendations linked to the above. Rather than being seen as prescriptive, these recommendations should be regarded as an invitation to explore highlighted issues together with stakeholders in a series of deep-dive workshops, the outcomes of which should guide holistic development of the regional action plan. Below, are presented some conclusions from this Deliverable.

Aligning regional priorities with high-level EU missions

The twelve PoliRural pilots have reached a stage where they need to develop an Action Plan for their region. These Action Plans are documents setting out measures needed to address local challenges and achieve the vision of where the region wants to be in the future. The regional teams must also demonstrate how their Action Plan aligns with high-level EU missions such as transition to net zero, recovery from the pandemic and resilience against future shocks, and the transformation of agriculture based on the principles of fairness and sustainability.

Transition to net zero

The key driver in this area is the European Green Deal. Over the next decades, a lot of jobs will be transformed, many new ones will be created, and some will disappear for good. Industries dependent on fossil fuels have no choice but to evolve while some (e.g., coal mining) are going to be phased out completely. People will be living in more energy-efficient buildings but this will come at a price that some would find unaffordable. All in all, there are lots of uncertainties and risks lurking on the path to carbon neutrality, but the mission also presents many opportunities for cities and regions to negotiate the kind of deal that is good for them and their people.

Recovery from the pandemic

The EU has made sure that recovery from the pandemic is green and digital. Member states are required to allocate at least 37% of the money they get from the Recovery and Resilience Facility to green transition and 20% to digital transition. Although the majority of National Recovery and Resilience Plans have already been assessed by the Commission, it does not mean that regions can do little now to influence how the money will be used. Ultimately, this will be a matter of negotiation. Regions should be proactive in putting forward ideas if they want their communities to get a slice of the pie. This can be done by drawing on the body of knowledge accumulated during the foresight process to make a strong case for investment in their region.

The new model of agriculture

The post-2023 CAP will provide more flexibility to member states to adapt the policy to their specific needs. The foresight approach such as the one practiced in PoliRural can support regions in formulating arguments that can be put forward to national governments as they figure out a way to align CAP with EU and regional priorities. The cascade process is far from straightforward. It is essential to involve CAP experts who can explain the logic of the reform and highlight what has changed and the opportunity that this has created for the reinvention of agriculture and the direction that this is taking in each region. Areas that require special attention are the new conditionalities (e.g., for redistribution, soil protection, biodiversity), the social dimension, the issue of fairness centered around farmers’ income, and the possible negative consequences of the decarbonisation agenda, such as lower yields, reduced crop quality, and threats to farmers’ livelihoods.

The rural economies in the twelve pilots of the PoliRural project are characterized by their own challenges and dynamics. To illustrate the diversity and complexity of the rural economies in the twelve PoliRural pilots, case studies on new entrants and new activities in the twelve PoliRural pilots are gathered. The case studies on new entrants and new activities in the twelve PoliRural pilots are available on the Best Practice Atlas and are interesting examples from practice that are fully of partially transferable to other regions or serve as inspiration for partners in the value chain.

A good example of a new entrant in the Slovakia Region pilot is the one from Jakub Dvorský, and the video from this case study can be visualized here.  Jakub’s business idea is grounded in traditions and ancestral heritage enriched with innovative features Jakub introduced: new elements of educational tourism into the village of Lišov.

Lišov Museum (NGO) functions as an innovative community organization providing educational tourism in the small village of Lišov.  NGO provides tourist education activities and services in its three buildings. The first is the traditional Lišov folk house called “Lišovská Izba” and represents typical local and regional architectural elements in a room that is decorated in a folk country style. The second is a replica of a Celtic roundhouse, and the third is the Mask Gallery, with a small shop selling handmade products from local artisans, artists, and farmers. Lišov Museum is currently working on the reconstruction of the house from 1887. The original materials such as clay, stone and wood are used for the renovation.  It is planned to have a cafe here in the future.  The Museum in Lišov actively participates in educational activities financed from the ERASMUS + program and through this grant program several exchange stays were carried out annually.  The entrepreneurial strategy of educational tourism combines innovative aspects that interact with expertise in local and regional history and traditions.  This main activity is further diversified into services provided directly in the three buildings.

In collaboration of three PoliRural project partners from the Czech Republic – Plan4All, NUVIT and CCSS – the Model of Rural Attractiveness in the Czech Republic was introduced in the 11^th LEADERfest, which took place from 20 to 23 September 2021 in Kutná Hora in the Central Bohemian Region. This national event is an essential gathering of the Czech Local Action Groups, including LAGs from the Central Bohemian Region – the key stakeholders of the project. The event hosted more than 300 participants from the Czech Republic, national and foreign speakers, and was financially supported by the National Rural Network under the Ministry of Agriculture of the Czech Republic.

The model, which is part of the PoliRural Digital Innovation Hub, is based on open data and an ontology of rural attractiveness. Factors affecting the resulting attractiveness can be classified based on selected Sustainable Development Goals and the output serves to show the attractiveness of particular municipalities or areas. This tool, which is available for users on PoliRural website (https://hub.polirural.eu/), should support proper policy-making processes based on selected weighted indicators and in accordance with specific data draw the existing situations on the map.

The model as a part of PoliRural projects output is easily understandable and it is valid for the whole area of the Czech Republic. Together with other activities in the Central Bohemian Region as a pilot region, it is usable for all stakeholders to support sustainable development of rural areas nationwide.

PoliRural invites you to participate in the AgriHub INSPIRE Hackathon 2021, that is already the 19^th hackathon organised by the Plan4All association in the frame of AgriHub CZ&SK projet funded by SmartAgriHubs H2020 project. It is based on the traditional model of the INSPIRE Hackathon, which is not a single event, it’s a process that is designed to efficiently exploit the achieved results of previous hackathons on developing new innovations.

For participants, the main benefit of the INSPIRE Hackathon is the opportunity to access and become a member of an international knowledge community of practice. INSPIRE Hackathon participants receive a diploma documenting and acknowledging their active participation. The top three jury-selected teams, based on a set of predetermined criteria, are offered the opportunity to contribute to peer-reviewed articles and citable publications documenting the outcomes and results of the events. It is hoped that this lasting legacy projects their career growth pathways.

The AgriHub INSPIRE Hackathon has identified 8 challenges to support digital innovation hubs in Czechia and Slovakia:

1. Crop Detection
2. Crop Status Monitoring
3. Agro Environmental Services
4. Irrigation Management
5. Extreme Weather
6. Drones utilisation for crop protection
7. Analysis, processing and standardisation of data from agriculture machinery for easier utilization by farmers
8. Business cases for WhiteBoard

AgriHub CZ&SK project will support communication of ongoing innovation experiments (IEs) as well as new IEs discovered during organising INSPIRE Hackathon with farmers. Its aim is to build bridges between the farming sector and research projects to make a better linkage with current research with farmers’ needs.

During the months of October – December, when the hackathon will take place, we offer you a unique opportunity to try out our new technologies and infrastructures, which will be open to all developers. At the same time, it will be possible to apply and integrate technologies into projects at your own discretion and experience. INSPIRE Hackathon opens up opportunities for cooperation in the development of various solutions with participants from all over the world, and at the same time offers everyone the enrichment of their own experience.

On 15 November 1:30 PM CET, you can participate in the 𝗔𝗴𝗿𝗶𝗛𝘂𝗯 𝗜𝗡𝗦𝗣𝗜𝗥𝗘 𝗛𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗻 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟭 𝗞𝗶𝗰𝗸-𝗼𝗳𝗳 𝗪𝗲𝗯𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗿! This Webinar will give an overview of the main mission of the AgriHub INSPIRE Hackathon, of the objectives of the challenges and will provide you with the information on how you can get involved in the Hackathon as a participant.

You can register for the Hackathon here and check a video about the Hackathon here.

In the context of the foresight activities, two online meetings were held on 26 of June, 2021 with targeted stakeholders to finalize the vision for the Region of Central Greece and discuss the potential activities and initiatives that could be included in the action plan. Particularly, during the first meeting it was pointed out the importance of creating a new type of physical agricultural stores that will sell directly the products of producers without the use of intermediaries, as an initiative to enhance both local producers and consumers.

The need for technological modernization of farms was also highlighted along with the need for finding financial tools that will support this action. While, during second meeting it was stressed the need to implement intensive education and tailor-made training course to the producers which is necessary to lead, in addition to improving the quality of production and better management of the crop, to the increase of their income. Achieving this goal must be linked to producers’ advice on what they should grow and in what quantities and soils in order to have a guaranteed income. It was also mentioned, the need to evaluate the knowledge assimilated through the utilization of precision agriculture.

In addition, the organized meetings provided the opportunity to the attendees to get informed regarding PoliRural processes, while boosting potential networking activities.

Two newcomers to the Galilee periphery, Mr. Omri Sagron, the owner and pedagogical consultant of the Cyber School SME in Israel, and Mr. Netzah Topaz, CEO, have decided to settle in the periphery after it was understood that work from a distance is possible, and the ecology in Galilee is attractive. They decided to establish the Cyber training company HIGHDELE and establish its headquarters in the north of Israel, with a very clear focus on training children in Israel and giving them an equal opportunity to advance and succeed in the local and international cyber field. From this peripheral region in Israel, they are operating a large number of activities.

It is a good example of the mission defined by the MIGAL team, in collaboration with the stakeholders, on upgrading the Galilee periphery’s digitalisation infrastructure. Cyber School has specialised in teaching informal technological training within the various educational frameworks with great success, primarily because of the professionalism and ability to develop unique content and courses. In this way, they motivate the students to succeed, inspiring them to practice the material, thus assimilating the material learned in the best way.

In order to promote the high-tech industry in northern Galilee, it is required to establish a process. There are many bodies and actors in the government, politics, entrepreneurs, investors, academia, security and more. The move needed of opening an accelerator and a technological community in the north is a move that is causing a chain reaction. Investors will discover a new north, entrepreneurship, conferences, quality people, and understand that it is worth investing in the country’s north.

The intention is that large high-tech companies will notice that it is possible to save a little and move a small development department to the north. There is already education, a population, and there are investors. Resources are relatively cheap. It is worth making even the slightest movement to encourage the growth of this high-tech industry in the north.

Vidzeme Planning Region continues running the pilot activity and is elaborating the Vidzeme Development Programme for 2021-2027. The document is being developed in close cooperation with the community, industry experts and specialists. The first version of the document was discussed in detail in several online working groups. Summarizing the results, it is known that 336 participants took part in the six discussions and 2,069 comments or suggestions were made. Most comments were received on topics such as business development, accessibility, natural capital and circular economics. In order to better understand the goals and tasks defined by the development program, infographics were prepared.

Ieva Kalniņa, Head of the Spatial planning department of Vidzeme Planning Region points out: “Quality and meaningful spatial development planning are not possible without the cooperation and targeted involvement of the various stakeholders. We gathered in discussions and discussed how we wanted to live in Vidzeme and looked for ways to achieve this: coming together is very valuable. The more we each engage in our places, the planning of our own regional development and jointly setting targets, the more we then have a lot more interest in achieving these goals. We have had a very successful cycle of online discussions – it is this format that allowed us to hear very many valuable ideas and comments. It is now a great and responsible job to analyse all the views and to integrate them as much as possible into the Vidzeme Development Road Map.”

Daiga Gargurne, Head of the local society, also a participant of online meetings says: “I welcome how Vidzeme Planning Region has chosen to organise the development of the Vidzeme Development Programme for 2021-2027. A new and fresh format has been selected. It appears that this time the public consultation has not been formally launched, but there is indeed a wide-ranging debate that calls on anyone with a view and a willingness to participate. I participated in all the thematic discussions launched. We have to be co-responsible for what happens – about what we do or not.”

Slovak pilot partners co-organized on 6 June a joint workshop with the Office of the Government for the development of civil society engagement as a follow up event after the session of the Government Council for non-governmental organizations. The event under the title “The Vision for more attractive rural areas” was organized on-line with the aim to showcast a successful model of how to involve stakeholders in different stages of elaboration of a document for rural areas. Almost 50 people registered and 35 actually participated, all of them received a recording. 

The focus was not primarily on the document as such, but on the process as such and many different stages and substages of the elaboration of the Vision document underlying the importance of actively and openly involving stakeholders in all stages through different tools (surveys, workshops, online forum discussions, rural events etc.). The participatory and inclusive process leading to the elaboration of the document is equally important as the document itself. The main motto is “Let´s make the rural areas more attractive for life, work and investment TOGETHER” and thus unite all relevant stakeholders in solving common problems and to look for opportunities to make rural towns and occupations more attractive to the settled rural population, as well as to the new or potential newcomers. The main goal is to contribute to strengthening the position of the rural population and support the sustainable development of rural regions. 

Stakeholder engagement is a key and critical issue in PoliRural project. PoliRural methodology is being tested in a total of 12 pilots, and a community of interest has been built around each pilot. These communities, also known as stakeholder panels comprise different stakeholders with direct knowledge and experience in each region: public authorities, rural communities, experts and industry, among others.

In pilot regions, stakeholder engagement has been a prominent subject over the last months. In this context, we can highlight the following activities related to stakeholder engagement in each PoliRural pilot:

• Apulia (Italy): Over the last months, two rounds of face-to-face and online meetings were organized: in both cases the Apulia pilot involved the various stakeholders via calls or emails. The same procedure was followed to involve new entrants in the project. Thanks to these 6 new entrants were involved in the pilot;
• Central Bohemia Region (Czech Republic): Due to Covid-19 restrictions, meetings with partners, experts and policy-makers and engagement of new stakeholders over the last months were provided online and primarily bilaterally. The successful collaboration with Local Action Groups (LAGs) on the regional and even national level was deepened;
• Central Greece (Greece): During the last months, three meetings/workshops were held at 02/02/2021 (14 stakeholders), 04/02/2021 (17 stakeholders) and 14/04/2021 (5 stakeholders) in order to identify the most important challenges and drivers of change in the region, including COVID Deep Dives topic. The results provided input for two articles that were published by national newspaper and the project’s Newsletter. During the last week of May, the pilot partners participated in the virtual presentation of PoliRural project at the local TV channel STAR;
• Flanders (Belgium): During the last months, all meetings took place on-line. The meetings were held with representatives of the Department of Agriculture (government), the Flemish Land Agency, Regional Landscapes (NGO) and the farmers’ Union. These prime PoliRural contacts outreach was organised to have individual and targeted contacts with stakeholders in order to obtain the information needed for the PoliRural project;
• Galilee (Israel): In this pilot the “Leading Team” that involves delegates from industry, academia, agriculture and citizens, are concentrating on advancing upgrading the regional digitalisation infrastructure for development. Galilee pilot organised a Zoom meeting on 10/3/21 with the Eastern Galilee Cluster of Mayors. The pilot presented to the Cluster of the 18^th municipalities the outcomes of the discussions that were held during the PoliRural activities and the pilot plans to present it to the government;
• Gevgelija-Strumica (Macedonia): Over the last months, AGFT and GGP as supporting partners have conducted two meetings (one physical meeting and one online meeting) with the Regional Panel Group. Main topics that were subject of these two meetings were: Needs analysis, Drivers analysis, Policy challenges and Foresight Deep dives. As a result of Covid-19 restrictions, the team of AGFT and GGP was forced to perform additional one-on-one consultations which was a continuous process of communication with representatives of different stakeholders within the Panel Group on several occasions;
• Häme (Finland): During the last months, two meetings with stakeholder group were organized on Teams platform which is used by the pilot as a communication platform for the group. In this period Häme pilot focus was on technological tools of the project, especially on System Dynamic Modelling (SDM) which was introduced, and its possibilities with Häme pilot work were discussed widely with the stakeholder group. In addition, the Text Mining tool was introduced to the stakeholders. The vision for the foresight work was also discussed further and refined together with the stakeholders and the work on deep-dives was on-going;
• Mazowieckie (Poland): Over the last months, stakeholder engagement in the Polish pilot was moderate, taking place online among the 7-14 most active members. The LAG, which is the biggest supporter of the pilot, allowed the use of already developed communication channels to reach a wider audience, especially for online surveys, newsletter dissemination and contacts with local authorities. This also allowed work to be carried out during the next escalation of the situation with covid-19 in early spring;
• Monaghan (Ireland): This pilot has an active Panel of 30 directly relevant people, including 5 rural newcomers, at its core. In addition, emails and surveys have been sent to over 300 targeted stakeholders. After 4 community physical meetings were held initially, most engagement and interactions now are by phone due to the covid-19 pandemic restrictions;
• Segóbriga (Spain): From the beginning of the project, the role of the LEADER Group was essential for the identification phase of Stakeholders. Firstly, a list of policy makers in the territory was drawn up and since then, the list has been expanded following the “snowball sampling” method, that is, asking people to refer others. In this way, the private sector and other stakeholders have been involved. Activities (3 surveys, 2 face-to-face meetings, 8 online meetings) have also helped to incorporate new stakeholders. When these events are being prepared, the “target audience” for each one of them is analyzed, and as result new incorporations are obtained;
• Slovakia Region: In this pilot, inclusive and participatory involvement of stakeholders takes on a regular basis in all stages of the project by various ways: regional panel, kick-off high-level meeting with parliamentarians, 6 workshops with rural actors (7 are planned for September), several surveys, direct contacts, dedicated website with discussion forum and publication of all events, documents and outcomes, consultations with responsible authorities and participation in various national decision-making processes. Recently, the pilot delivered a presentation to over 70 registered participants of the online workshop with the Office of the Plenipotentiary for the Development of the Civil Society with the aim to promote PoliRural participatory processes as a good role model for civil society engagement;
• Vidzeme (Latvia): During the last months, 2 rounds of VPR working group meetings (~10 in total) about foresight progress and 6 deep dives workshops were organised with external stakeholders, where 336 participants took place. Together with public, online feedback collection more than 2000 ideas, recommendations and suggestions were collected for the pilot. A public campaign was organized to collect new entrant stories, and 39 stories were submitted about 32 new entrants. 

The Polish pilot covers the Mazowieckie region and is managed by the European Rural Development Network (ERDN) with the support of the local stakeholder Lokalna Grupa Działania “Zielone Sąsiedztwo” (LGD ZS). The general ambition of the pilot is to promote rural areas as a place for living and working for newcomers, considering exploiting the opportunities of urban-rural linkages, as well as changing patterns in food consumption, health awareness and lifestyles.

The Pilot is made up of people representing various sectors and professions, but above all loving the region and therefore actively and passionately discussing the future of rural areas, small towns and local communities.

During many discussions, emphasis was placed upon the natural resources and clean environment as the strengths of the Mazowieckie region, which may contribute to the development of tourism, as well as entrepreneurship based on these resources. At the same time, many participants pointed out the low awareness of the society in the field of ecology and care for the environment, but also energy inefficient private and public construction having negative impact on the environment and the climate as the possible threats for regional development. However, more and more activities are undertaken by non-governmental organisations to support pro-ecological policy of municipalities included in the Mazowieckie region.

Thus, the proposed course of action is to develop the post-industrial branches of economy, i.e. based on information processing and knowledge application as well as other types of entrepreneurship that do not threaten environment and do not burden neighbours but create social value and income for residents. Such an oriented income-generating activity of the inhabitants, including social services and individual cultural tourism and recreation services, will be fully adjusted to the principles of social co-existence and environmental protection requirements.

Attractiveness of rural areas is strongly associated with quality of life, public services and economic vitality. But it is peoples’ inventiveness, entrepreneurship and sense of community that will be the main enabler of positive change in the local systems.