RURACTIVE aims to foster a just and sustainable transition of rural areas by developing smart, community-led, tailor-made, place-based and inclusive solutions within local Multi-Actor Rural Innovation Ecosystems (RIEs) in 12 pilot area (Dynamos - Ds) in 7 EU, 2 Associated Countries and Switzerland. RURACTIVE will unlock the innovation potential of rural communities by addressing six integrated Rural Development Drivers (RDDs) – namely multimodal mobility, energy transition, agri-food and agroecology, culture and cultural innovation, health and wellbeing, nature-based and cultural tourism – and transversally integrating climate change mitigation and adaption, biodiversity and social justice and inclusion. RURACTIVE will empower rural communities to act for societal change, by making available existing knowledge around smart solutions that integrate various forms of innovation (digital and technological, technical, organizational and social, business models and financial) and enhancing rural communities' capacities and skills, by providing training, capacity building, and knowledge transfer. Implementing a methodology for RIEs establishment in 12 Ds, RURACTIVE will work towards inclusive decision-making processes for all, including vulnerable groups and people at risk of exclusion, providing RIEs with instruments and capacities to collaboratively co-develop, co-implement and co-monitor smart and community-led solutions. Also, by offering an open set of data-driven tools (Decision Support Tool, Adaptive Monitoring tool), a digital infrastructure (RURACTIVE Digital Hub), and defining a programme for external Innovators, RURACTIVE will provide a fertile ground for change in rural areas. Results will be out-scaled through knowledge exchanges and networking at EU level (open contest for Additional Ds and RURACTIVE Forum), the deployment of training and capacity building activities for further rural communities and the creation of open e-learning courses and MOOC.

The MED region includes more than 25 million hectares of forests and about 50 million hectares of other wooded lands. Climatic and socio-economic changes in this region could have serious consequences for forests, potentially resulting in the loss of ecosystem services and causing a wide range of economic, social, and environmental issues. The low competitiveness of the forest-wood supply chain in European Mediterranean (EUMED) countries is currently amplified by the missing or limited access of forest managers and companies to current and new digital technologies which appear to be out of date in certain key areas or fail to address some of the most pressing difficulties that the industry is expected to be confronting in the next decades. This rationale calls for the urgent implementation of a multi-actor approach to digitalization, starting from recognizing stakeholders’ needs and subsequently defining joint actions. To this end DigiMedFor's overall goal is to transform the technological landscape of the Mediterranean forest-wood supply chain by increasing its competitiveness, thus allowing the different stakeholders to better manage and supply multiple forest ecosystem services, including the traceability of wood origin from forests to end-users. In line with the EU forest strategy and the EU digital strategy, DigiMedFor will employ advanced and innovative digital solutions to improve the monitoring and management of forest resources along the supply chain from their origin up to the wood industry, optimising both the sustainability of wood production and traceability and delivery of ecosystem services. DigiMedFor will address the synergetic use of geo-spatial, AI, and modelling technologies, combining them with ICT.

RIBES will address the need to enhance the uptake of biobased innovations through pioneering governance and business models developed on the convergence of the circular bioeconomy, social innovation and rural development, thus contributing to the shift from a linear to a circular economy in 9 European regions lagging in innovation. Project activities will focus on specific sub-national levels but will also encompass proactive dissemination and replication at the country level. Participating regions have been selected based on various socio-economic indicators and data concerning the characteristics of the agricultural and biobased sectors, demographics, innovation capacity, etc. RIBES will perform an in-depth multidisciplinary assessment of regional bioeconomy ecosystems and research possible correlations between the socio-economic trends, innovation bottlenecks and the role of the primary sector. RIBES will create a significant impact by delivering innovative and tailored governance solutions and business models capable of fostering grass-rooted circular bioeconomy value chains, with particular attention devoted to the advanced sustainability of regional inclusive biobased entrepreneurship solutions, thus contributing to strengthening rural development and innovation in participating regions. RIBES will implement 9 local Multi-actor Transformative Forums (MTFs) based on the Living Lab and Open Innovation concepts to address complex societal challenges and problems by putting stakeholder participation and deliberation processes at the centre, aiming at systemic transformative change (instead of only addressing symptoms) in the three pillars of technological, social and economic innovation to co-create tailored business and governance models.