The 11th Rural Development Conference, run by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), discussed how innovation can help rural areas and people respond to the challenges of globalisation, shifting trading patterns, and growing inequality.
It brought together a wide range of stakeholders to discuss better policies for rural regions and exchange on how to make the most of rural innovation opportunities for job creation, economic growth, and service delivery. It built on the Cork 2.0 Declaration and the OECD’s New Rural Policy.
The event was co-hosted by the Scottish Government, with the support of the European Commission and the UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). Both the ENRD Contact Point and the Scottish Rural Network support unit were actively involved in the organisation of the event.
The ENRD Contact Point facilitated the six workshops of the event’s pre-conference on topics including: global value chains; smart rural communities; technologies to face climate change; skills of the future; business support; and future governance - find the presentations below.
Main documents
Pre-conference workshop presentations