RUSTIK participates at Euromontana’s Annual Conference: Navigating Transitions in Mountain Areas 

In a resounding affirmation of its dedication to tackling the challenges and seizing opportunities in rural areas, the RUSTIK project actively participated in Euromontana’s Annual Conference—an integral component of the European Year of Skills. The conference, titled “Skills for Mountains in Transitions,” served as a convergence point for influential stakeholders, researchers, and practitioners, providing a dynamic forum to delve into the intricate transitions impacting mountain economies and labor markets. 

Francesco Mantino, Architect of Rural Transitions: 

Francesco Mantino, a prominent figure in conceptualizing rural transitions for policy-making, represented the RUSTIK project at a pivotal session. As the Council for Agricultural Research and Agricultural Economy Analysis and a partner in the RUSTIK project, Mantino contributed valuable insights during the conference. He spearheaded discussions on the challenges and opportunities for skills and employment in mountain areas, sharing the stage with distinguished speakers. 

Mantino’s session, titled “Setting the scene: challenges, opportunities and approaches for employment and skills for mountain in transitions,” saw him collaborating with Guillaume Corradino, the Director of Euromontana. The duo laid the groundwork for understanding the intricate landscape of mountain transitions, discussing both challenges and innovative approaches. 

Additionally, Mantino shared the stage with Kirsty Blackstock, from the James Hutton Institute and partner of the MOVING project. Their discussion delved into “Skills for the future of mountain value chains,” shedding light on the evolving nature of skills needed in these regions. 

Rural Proofing for Mountain Areas: 

Beyond the conference sessions, Mantino actively participated in the General Assembly, engaging in a parallel session on rural proofing. Drawing from RUSTIK’s deliverables, he presented case studies from Finland and the UK, offering a nuanced perspective on the application of rural proofing in mountain areas. The discussions proved to be a melting pot of experiences, allowing participants to identify challenges and needs for effective rural proofing implementation. 

Euromontana’s Vision and Conference Focus 

Against the backdrop of declining populations, loss of attractiveness, climate change impacts, and the imperative green transition, Euromontana’s conference aimed to spotlight the challenges and solutions for employment and skills in mountain areas. The overarching goal was to explore sector-specific difficulties and opportunities while brainstorming innovative solutions to attract talent to these regions. 

In the spirit of collaboration, Euromontana provided a platform for representatives of the European Commission, researchers, and practitioners to share their expertise, shaping policy and practical solutions for talent attraction in transitioning mountain areas. 

RUSTIK
RUSTIK
RUSTIK

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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