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Designing rural policies to meet the transition challenges, RUSTIK project meeting

RUSTIK partners gathered in Parma (Italy) from 16th to 19th of October 2023 for a productive annual project meeting hosted by CREA, the Council for Agricultural Research. One year after the start of the project, the partners had the opportunity to present and reflect on the progress made in all the Work Packages and to plan the next steps for the coming year.

A whole day was also dedicated to presentations and networking activities between the project’s 14 Living Labs. Central to the RUSTIK project, those Living Labs gather local administrations, policymakers, rural communities’ civil society actors and economic actors. Their aim is to identify the information needs for rural policy developments and test new data collection methods and analysis for improved policy initiatives. It was therefore an important moment for Living Labs to share the challenges encountered during their first round of data collection, interviews and focus groups. For them, the past year has been rich in collaboration with local stakeholders and RUSTIK’s academic partners to determine which project transition to focus on for the upcoming data experiments: socio-economic, climate and environment or digital transition.

The meeting was also an opportunity to set RUSTIK in the European context through discussions with the Advisory Board members, on the Rural Pact and the Long-Term Vision for Rural Areas. To deliver on the Rural Vision, a report on rural proofing and the methodological aspects and implications for stakeholders will soon be published as part of the RUSTIK project. It will review rural proofing instruments and experiences in European and non-European countries to provide a robust methodology which will then be discussed and tested in the project’s Living Labs. Euromontana will be focusing on rural proofing at its General Assembly in November 2022 and has invited RUSTIK to present the findings of its research on the subject.

The host, CREA Council for Agricultural Research, and the project partner OI North Italian Industrial Tomatoes, also organised a visit to the Mutti tomato factory followed by an explanation of the irrigation schemes of the Food Valley. This was an opportunity to learn about the agricultural and environmental challenges of this area which has one of the highest densities of PDO and PGI in Europe.

Want to know more?

RUSTIK is a Horizon Europe project aiming at enabling rural communities’ actors and policy makers ​to design better strategies, initiatives and policies ​fostering sustainability transitions of rural areas. Central to this project are the 14 Living Labs located in 8 EU countries and 2 non-EU countries​, including mountainous areas such as the Nockregion – Oberkärnten in the Austrian Alps and Garfagnana in the Italian Appenines. The project will run until August 2026. Within the project, Euromontana leads dissemination activities and will take an active role in the policy uptake of the project’s results.

To learn more about the RUSTIK project, you can follow the project on its social media channels (Facebook, X previously Twitter, LinkedIn) and subscribe to the project’s newsletter.

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24 October 2023

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5 days ago

Euromontana
Today, members of the Rural Pact Coordination Group (RPCG) meet online to discuss: • The forthcoming RPCG Declaration on the future of EU rural policy, which addresses the open questions in the @European Commission’s ‘key achievements and ways forward’ report;• RPCG members’ position papers on the future of Europe’s rural areas;• RPCG members’ role in the Rural Pact Conference of April 2025;• Members’ actions to date & the Rural Pact Support Office 2025 work programme.More information at: bit.ly/4fwtjnS#RuralPact #RuralVisionEU ... See MoreSee Less
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6 days ago

Euromontana
📢 #CallForProposals: you can now submit proposals for the #InternationalMountainConference!The international conference dedicated to #MountainResearch is taking place from 14-18 September 2025 in #Innsbruck. It is being organised by the Research Area “Mountain Regions” at the Universität Innsbruck ⛰️🇦🇹📝 The #IMC is currently looking for proposals focusing on scientific research in #MountainRegions around the world. There are six formats to choose from, including plenary sessions and workshops - find out more and submit your proposal by 28 November: loom.ly/ntncy_M ... See MoreSee Less
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2 weeks ago

Euromontana
We're at the #Gismart project Kick Off meeting in Paris today to share guidelines on communication, dissemination and exploitation of results 💡For the next two days, we will discuss the following steps to assess the sustainability of geographical indications all over Europe, including in the mountains ⛰️🌱🚜👩‍🌾 How to transition to more sustainable diet systems ? 🌱 How to implement the Farm to Fork Strategy?🥩🧀 how to develop a methodology to assess economic, social, environnemental dimensions of GIs sustainability?Pleased to be working on this key topic with INRAE and to continue collaboration with AREPO! More info on GI-SMART 🔗 www.euromontana.org/gi-smart/ ... See MoreSee Less
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3 weeks ago

Euromontana
🌄 A week ago, we were opening the #MountainConvention2024 in the stunning Catalan Pyrenees! 🏔️✨ 250 mountain stakeholders came together in Puigcerdà to shape the #MountainEconomies of tomorrow! 💬 In the face of socio-economic, environmental, and demographic transitions, our economies must become 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐬, 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 than ever! 💪🌱From fair remuneration of farmers & ecosystem services, to funding for the transition of mountain resorts, circular economy development for wool and wood products, support for entrepreneurship and interesting public procurement or taxes systems ... all a huge thank you to everyone for your energy and ideas! 🙌 These will be captured in the 𝐏𝐮𝐢𝐠𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐝𝐚̀ 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, which will be presented on 11 December on International Mountain Day 📜🏔️🔜 Presentations and materials will soon be available! A special thank you to our co-organisers Territori. Generalitat de Catalunya. and CREAF, as well as our supporters Ajuntament de Puigcerdà , #NEMOR Network for European Mountain Research, European Rural Pact 🙏 ... See MoreSee Less
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