RUSTIK to Participate in the International Mountain Conference 2025 in Innsbruck

The RUSTIK project will be represented at the upcoming International Mountain Conference (IMC), taking place from 14 to 18 September 2025 in Innsbruck, Austria. The IMC is a key international forum dedicated to mountain research, bringing together scientists and practitioners from various disciplines to exchange knowledge and explore strategies for resilient and sustainable mountain development. 

RUSTIK will contribute to the conference through participation in Focus Session 3.196: “Mountain diversities for shared innovative solutions: The role of SMEs for sustainable and resilient development in mountain rural areas.” This session is convened by Ingrid Machold (BAB, Austria), with co-conveners Petya Slavova, Daria Ernst, and Nina Denisova. 

The session focuses on the role of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in mountain areas, exploring how their innovative approaches contribute to local employment, economic diversification, and resilience in the face of socio-economic and environmental challenges. The session will highlight diverse examples from across Europe and stimulate discussion on how to better integrate SMEs into regional development and policy frameworks. 

RUSTIK’s contributions include three presentations: 

  • Understanding and Enhancing the Visibility and Diversity of Small Rural Businesses
    Ingrid Machold, Karin Schroll, Daria Ernst
    This presentation explores the contribution of small rural businesses (SRBs) in Austria’s Nockregion-Oberkärnten, focusing on visibility, governance inclusion, and their key role in regional development. 
  • Exploring Territorial Development in the Central Balkan Mountain Area through SMEs
    Petya Slavova, Nina Denisova
    The presentation analyses SME business models in three municipalities in Bulgaria’s Central Balkan region, offering insights into how different local contexts shape development pathways. 
  • Multifunctional Forestry in Transition: Challenges and Opportunities for Small Enterprises in MontagnAppennino
    Mirta Sutter, Brigida Marovelli, Daniele Matteucci
    This contribution presents findings from the Italian RUSTIK Living Lab, where SMEs in forestry are working to revitalise mountain economies through sustainable forest management and ecosystem services. 

Through these contributions, RUSTIK will share practical insights from its Living Labs and ongoing research activities, supporting discussions on how SMEs can foster more inclusive, sustainable, and resilient futures in Europe’s mountain regions. 

More information on the International Mountain Conference can be found at: www.imc2025.info 

Navigating the transition of Garfagnana: Embracing Socio-Economic and Environmental Challenges

Navigating the transition of Garfagnana: A Journey into Socio-Economic & Environmental Transitions!

Nestled in the northern part of Tuscany, the Garfagnana region, comprising Media Valle del Serchio, Alta Versilia, and Appennino Pistoiese, stands as a picturesque landscape covering 2110 km2. The area, home to 27 municipalities, is under the purview of LAG Montagnappennino, the driving force behind the LEADER programme. As we delve into the complexities of Garfagnana, we uncover a rich tapestry of socio-economic, demographic, climate, and environmental transitions.

Socio-economic and Demographic Transition:

At the heart of Garfagnana’s challenges lies the persistent issue of depopulation. From 2011 to 2020, the region experienced a concerning -7.58% decrease in total population. Distinct challenges include uneven distribution of commercial services, generational renewal hurdles, a less attractive environment for new investments, historic center degradation, limited accessibility to services for non-capital residents, and entrepreneurial gaps in the social sector. To address these, a multifaceted approach is essential, focusing on social capital, community regeneration, and innovative models for local development.

Climate and Environmental Transition:

With a landscape dominated by forests (88% coverage in 2020), Garfagnana’s natural wealth is both a strength and a vulnerability. The majority comprises mature forests (86%), witnessing a 15% growth between 2013 and 2020. Balancing sustainable forest use for productivity and preventing uncontrolled forest spread due to abandonment emerges as a critical challenge. Recognizing the multifunctionality of forests is imperative, transforming them into sources of recreation, climate change mitigation, and cultural significance. Civic uses, particularly through local forest cooperatives, are vital for harmonizing the needs of both the community and the environment.

Living Lab Challenge:

Garfagnana’s Living Lab confronts the intertwined challenges of socio-economic and environmental transitions. Community projects emerge as a beacon of hope, fostering cooperation, strengthening social capital, and building synergies between local initiatives. The focus on civic uses and multifunctional forest models aims to create a balance between social and environmental goals. The region’s response to the COVID-19 emergency showcases the potential of community-driven regeneration projects, aligning with the goal of preserving social capital and revitalizing local communities.

Rationale:

The symbiotic relationship between socio-economic and environmental transitions becomes evident in Garfagnana’s response to the COVID-19 crisis. The MontagnAppennino LAG, acting as a pillar of social cohesion, initiated community regeneration projects to stimulate development ideas and enhance the quality of life in rural territories. The key lies in creating and increasing social capital, an essential element in retaining the local population. Simultaneously, the region recognizes the potential of its vast forest cover, focusing on sustainable forest use, climate change mitigation, and ecosystem service recognition.

Policy Relevance: With upcoming LEADER programming and participation in the National Strategy for Inner Areas, Garfagnana sees an opportunity to solidify and support pilot experiences arising from community regeneration projects and forest-focused initiatives. Data and analysis play a pivotal role in guiding ongoing processes, adapting future actions, and providing a foundation for governance choices. Collaboration with regional authorities and self-evaluation processes is crucial for demonstrating the effectiveness of actions to the European Union.

Research Questions:

  • How can sustainable forest use be promoted to support local added value and prevent uncontrolled forest spread?
  • What role do community projects play in fostering cooperation, strengthening social capital, and building synergies between local initiatives?

Emerging Data Needs:

  • Comprehensive knowledge of forest stock, ownership structure, and management plans.
  • In-depth understanding of qualitative dimensions like social capital, trust, and reciprocity.
  • Monitoring immigration and policies attracting new residents.
  • Data collection on third-sector projects and their socio-economic impacts.

Data Availability:

  • Adequate regional and national data for forest heritage characteristics.
  • Existing data on qualitative dimensions but a need for case studies on community regeneration.
  • Collaboration with IRPET for socio-economic, demographic, and public expenditure data.

Garfagnana’s transition journey is a testament to the intricate balance needed between human and environmental well-being. As the Living Lab unfolds, it becomes a living example of how data, collaboration, and innovative approaches can pave the way for a sustainable and vibrant future.

Stay tuned for updates on this captivating journey into the heart of Tuscany!

 

The 14 RUSTIK Living Labs actors meet in Barcelona to foster knowledge exchange

 

The Pilot Region Kick-off was held in February 2023, and it was RUSTIK’s first in-person knowledge exchange, training, and networking event for partners from the 14 Pilot Regions. The event took place over two days in Barcelona and Osona in Catalonia.

During the Pilot Region Kick-off event, attendees had the opportunity to increase their understanding of the RUSTIK project and interact with the project coordinators. They also delved into how the Pilot Regions could add value to the initiative and gained indispensable knowledge for implementing RUSTIK’s approaches. It was also the first opportunity for exchanging ideas and insights with partners from 14 distinct rural regions across ten states.

During the first day of the meeting, the RUSTIK project was introduced, and the attendees learned about the key concepts that will play a key role throughout the project’s duration and began exploring how these concepts could be put into practice in their respective pilot regions. On the second day, the focus shifted from ideas to action. The attendees comprehended what to anticipate and accomplish as they started to put into action a RUSTIK Living Lab in their pilot regions.

The interactive workshops enabled the attendees to have a direct conversation with the leads in charge of each of the upcoming tasks in the Living Lab. They had the chance to ask questions and provide feedback about the topics covered, which included doing background research on their respective pilot regions led by Franco Mantino (CREA), identifying existing data and data needs led by Andreu Ulied (MCRIT), setting up and assessing their Living Lab led by Janet Dwyer (CCRI), and creating a policy panorama for their pilot region led by Petri Kahila and Juha Halme (UEF).

Our hosts in Catalonia

The hosts for the event were MCRIT and the Ersilia Foundation. On the first day, we visited Sant Miquel de Balenyà, one of RUSTIK’s 14 pilot regions. The town had been established after a train station was built in the area in 1875, and it now has 1,353 residents. The nearby Parc Natural de Montseny is a UNESCO biosphere reserve. The wider region, Osona (with a population of 165,229), is renowned for its sausages and has a ratio of over six pigs per person.

RUSTIK will run 14 Living Labs to foster sustainability transitions in rural communities

RUSTIK (Rural Sustainability Transitions through Integration of Knowledge for improved policy processes) is a four-year transdisciplinary research project. The project aims to enable rural communities’ actors and policymakers to design better strategies, initiatives and policies fostering sustainability transitions of rural areas.

The project, funded by the Horizon Europe programme, envisages an analysis of current adaption requirements and the support of effective rural policy-making processes for a better understanding of the different rural functionalities and characteristics as well as the potentials and challenges of rural areas. Environment, climate-energy, socio-economic and digital will be the key transition pathways studied in the project.

Living Labs in 14 European Pilot Regions in 10 European countries will be the central element to generate new insights into rural diversity and societal transformations. RUSTIK’s Living Labs will work on the identification of new data, methods of data collection, combined with current data sources to set up relevant indicators. The project will also focus on data integration and dissemination, to make information and analysis accessible and valuable for actors and policymakers; and to improve rural impact assessment. The final goal is to enhance policy strategies and governance structures. To do so, 3 sequential phases: situational review, data experimentation, and policy learning are envisaged.

This week the academic partners of the project got together for the kick-off meeting organised in Frankfurt by the project coordinator, the Institute for Rural Development Research (IfLS).

A multidisciplinary consortium
The consortium involves 30 partner organisations. Eight universities and four research institutes are providing scientific expertise within the fields of rural development, spatial planning and reporting, policy process, climate change and sustainability; two knowledge-based SMEs contribute to this with ready-to-apply technologies and approaches; and two NGOs act as intermediaries between university resp. SMEs.

Local and regional embedded partners ensure a practice-oriented implementation of the project. This comprises partners from five local or regional public administration, two local action groups (LAGs), three business associations and three regional development agencies.

Two European umbrella organisation representing rural mountainous stakeholders and regions, Euromontana,, and the European LEADER association for rural development, ELARD, are key multipliers towards other European regions and particularly support the dissemination towards the European Union.

The consortium efforts will contribute to enhancing existing European policy tools and approaches, most of all to support the European Green Deal, the European Digital Strategy, the European Pillar of Social Rights and the EU Long-Term Vision for Rural Areas of the European Union, the EU Cohesion policy, the common agricultural policy, and, in particular, the European agricultural guarantee fund (EAGF).

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