Summary

The goal of the conference was to find innovative answers to stimulate the local economy and support rural entrepreneurship.

The seminar gave participants the opportunity to:

• Study new forms of rural entrepreneurship;
• Learn about policies and schemes implemented in other regions of Europe in terms of economic development;
• Promote exchanges and dialogue among local stakeholders, institutions and public authorities involved with economic development.

The main topics discussed during the conference were the following:

•  Alternative financing for local projects
•  R&D and rural innovation
•  Collaborative schemes in rural areas
•  Access to land

 About 200 participants across the Europe attended the event mainly the stakeholders in rural development: entrepreneurs, farmers and foresters, agro-processors, business associations, training companies, tourist offices, nature parks, rural communities, economic development agencies, local action groups, local economy support project initiators, administrations and local, provincial and regional public services, elected officials.

Please see the link to learn more details about the event link

Outcomes

Day 1 of the event

Plenary session

• EU Rural Networks Meeting rural development challenges, Fabio Cossu, ENRD CP [PDF ]
• Access to the land in Europe, possibilities, barriers, Sjoerd WARTENA [PDF ]

Workshop 1 on supporting entrepreneurship

• Central Innovation Programme SME (ZIM) and EraSME, Felix Richter, AiF Projekt GmbH, Germany [PDF ]
• CRER PROJECT Creating Businesses in rural areas, Claudia Silva, ADRIMAG, Portugal [PDF ]
• Land Policy in Scotland, Dr Stephen Pathirana, Land and Tenancy Reform, Scottish Government, UK, Scotland [PDF ]
• Mobilizing local savings to serve community deve­lopment, Jörgen Andersson, Are Lokalkapital AB, Crowd Equity Funding, Sweden [PDF ]
• Trends Observatory (Creative Wallonia), Oxana Rogozina, AWEX, Belgium [PDF ]

Workshop 2 on public support scheme

• Rur@l Inov Project Capitalizing on and measuring the impact of innovative practices in rural areas, Livia Maria Costa Madureira, Portuguese rural network, Portugal [PDF ]
• Cluster Eco-construction, Network of economy stake-holders in green building, Hervé Jacques Poskin, coordinateur, Belgium [PDF ]
• Flemish public land bank, Hendrik Vermeulen, Vlaamse Landmaatschappij, Belgium [PDF ]
• Land policy in Wallonia, Eric Méganck, Direction de l’Aménagement Foncier Rural, SPW (DGO3) Belgium [PDF ]
• Funding for rural SMEs Needs, access to finance, rurality, Peter Toth, ENRD CP [PDF ]

Workshop 3 on collaborative tools and networking

• CREDAL Alternative financing cooperative, Isabelle Philippe and Jérôme Rassart, Belgium [PDF ]
• Rural Center of Excellence «Cork Sector» Christophe Arrondeau, GAL Pays d’Adour Landes Océanes, France [PDF ]
• Employers’ alliances and labour sharing, Pierre Neuray, Chambre du Commerce et de l’Industrie Liège Verviers Namur, Belgium [PDF ]
• RegionalWertAg Citizens’ cooperative supporting local and organic agriculture, Peter Volz, AGRONAUTEN, Germany[PDF ]
• Coopérative fermière de la Gaume SCRL Group production of diversified, ethical and environment-friendly products from the Gaume region, Nicolas Ancion, GAL Cuestas [PDF ]

Workshop 4 on Local initiative networks

• Alternative financing network, Citizen movement for ethical and joint financing, Belgium [PDF ]
• FabLab Net’Iki Rural digital fabrication lab promoting creativity and innovation, Pascal Minguet, TMHC The Média Hall Company, France[PDF ]
• Building networks of producers, consumers and restaurateurs in Ayrshire and Arran Howard Wilkinson, Ayrshire Food Network, UK Scotland [PDF ]
• Terre de Liens Network of land associations supporting farmer-based, organic and diversified agriculture, Sjoerd Wartena, France [PDF ]
• Terre-en-vue Land cooperative and non-profit organization facilitating access to land in a farmer-based agriculture, Zoé Gallez, Belgium [PDF ]

Day 2 of the event

On the second day of the event the field visits and off-site workshops were organized on following topics: financing local economy projects, R&D and farming innovation, collaboration between enterprises and access to land.

See more pictures about the event by this link