News

Visions for a ‘Vibrant Rural North'

A recent ENRD workshop (16-18 April 2018 – Saaremaa, Estonia) discussed rural challenges and opportunities such as climate change and technological advances, and constructed different visions for the future of northern rural areas.

The event – co-organised by the ENRD Contact Point and the Estonian, Swedish and Finnish Rural Network Support Units – saw an exchange on the national application of their respective Rural Development Programmes (RDPs). Specific topics included ‘smart villages’, tourism, entrepreneurship and urban-rural connections, and their related networking activities.

Source:
  • ENRD Contact Point
Publication date: 
19/04/2018

New Declaration for smarter rural areas

A new Declaration on ‘smart villages’ calls for innovative and inclusive use of digital technologies; strengthened knowledge and entrepreneurship; and complementary support under EU funding instruments to boost the development of rural economies across the EU.

The Declaration – under the heading ‘Smarter Future of the Rural Areas in EU’ –  was signed at a dedicated event (13 April, 2018 – Bled, Slovenia), attended by European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Phil Hogan.

“Smart Villages are essentially about people – they are about rural communities taking the initiative to find practical solutions to challenges and make the most of new opportunities,” said Commissioner Hogan (read the full speech).

Source:
  • European stakeholders
Publication date: 
15/04/2018

Enhancing rural innovation opportunities

The 11th Rural Development Conference run by the OECD (9-12 April 2018 – Edinburgh, UK) discussed how innovation can help rural areas and people respond to the challenges of globalisation, shifting trading patterns, and growing inequality.

The event highlighted ten key drivers of rural change and the development of an integrated policy approach to capitalise on these. A call for making the most of rural innovation opportunities for job creation, economic growth, and service delivery was articulated in the Edinburgh Policy Statement (see also OECD’s Rural 3.0 Policy Note).

The ENRD Contact Point designed and 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. Explore the key messages and presentations from these workshops here.

Source:
  • International Organisations
Publication date: 
13/04/2018

ENRD progresses thematic work

The latest meetings of the ENRD Thematic Groups (TGs) on ‘Smart Villages’ and ‘Sustainable Management of Water and Soils' took place on 21 February and 22 March 2018, respectively. Find out what happened at each meeting’s web page.

Look out for the upcoming European Seminars on the two topics, which will bring together a wide range of stakeholders in Brussels, Belgium:

  • 22 May 2018: ENRD Seminar on 'Smart Villages';
  • 14 June 2018: ENRD Seminar on ‘Sustainable Management of Water and Soils'.
Source:
  • ENRD Contact Point
Publication date: 
28/03/2018

Looking for Finland's smartest village

The Finnish Rural Network (Maaseutu.FI) has launched a competition to identify and highlight villages in the country that are actively and smartly working to develop services such as healthcare, education, energy, mobility, and local food, among others.

The competition will be open until the end of 2018 and participants will be offered guidance, ideas, peer support, networking opportunities and visibility both in Finland and beyond.

Source:
  • National stakeholders
Publication date: 
28/03/2018

Boosting rural services through social innovation

Explore a selection of good practice examples of revitalising rural services such as health, education, energy, and mobility in marginalised rural areas through social innovation in SIMRA’s latest brochure.

The highlighted examples are selected from the project’s database of good practices and contribute to the new concept of ‘Smart Villages’ which is gaining momentum across Europe.

Source:
  • European stakeholders
Publication date: 
27/03/2018

New EAFRD Projects Brochure online

A new edition of the EAFRD Projects Brochure on ‘Resource-Efficient Rural Economies’ is now available on the ENRD website. It showcases examples of Rural Development Programme (RDP) projects supporting sustainable use of natural resources, particularly water and soil.

The projects highlight inspiring practices of creating greater economic and environmental value from fewer inputs and how these are supported under the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD). The brochure is part of the broader ENRD thematic work on ‘Resource Efficiency’.

For electronic and paper subscriptions to ENRD publications, please write to subscribe@enrd.eu.

Source:
  • ENRD Contact Point
Publication date: 
26/03/2018

Discover Operational Group projects

Browse through EIP-AGRI’s online resources on Operational Group projects, including a searchable database and an interactive map.

Operational Groups (OGs) are innovative projects bringing together researchers and practitioners to jointly seek practical solutions to current issues facing European farmers and foresters. Find out more in EIP-AGRI’s new brochure showcasing examples of successful collaborations, as well as tools to further inspire networking among OGs.

Source:
  • EIP-AGRI
Publication date: 
26/03/2018

New tools for LAGs – over to you!

The ENRD Contact Point team is happy to announce that the LAG database and its linked CLLD Partner Search tool are now accessible for Local Action Groups (LAGs) to manage themselves.

Each LAG has its own online profile and LAG managers are now able to expand and update the information in it, as well as to create and browse through offers for future CLLD cooperation. If you are a LAG manager, look out for our invite email in your inbox, follow the instructions to sign up and start networking with thousands of LAGs from across Europe.

Help us spread the word! Share our flyer with the LAGs you know – available in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Polish.

Source:
  • ENRD Contact Point
Publication date: 
23/03/2018
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Share your views on ENRD online media

Are you a user of the ENRD website and social media? Please help us to improve our online media tools by filling in our short survey by Monday, 16 April 2018.

The survey takes around 10 minutes to complete and offers an opportunity to give your feedback on how information is presented and disseminated via the ENRD website and social media channels.

Thank you in advance for your input!

Source:
  • ENRD Contact Point
Publication date: 
23/03/2018

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