Project summary
FUTURAL aims to address social and environmental challenges in European rural areas through a set of digital smart solutions. In six pilot sites located all over Europe (Spain, Netherlands, Austria, Lithuania, Romania, and Greece), two community-led social, technological, and business innovations from two of the smart solution domains, will be tested and demonstrated. The five domains are:
- Circular Bioeconomy, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Management,
- Resilience to Shocks,
- Citizen Engagement and Quality of Life,
- Lifelong Education and Training, and
- Climate Adaptation and Mitigation.
Through pursuing public-private interaction, developing new social practices, and engaging rural communities, FUTURAL intends to enable widespread social change and market adoption. The development of an EU-wide Rural Innovation Forum (EU-RIF) will strengthen a network of rural organisations, initiatives, and projects to encourage the progression of a sustainable, vibrant, rural ecosystem.
Expected outcomes
- Knowledge and capacity building through workshops in rural communities
- Creating platforms for the smart solutions
- Creating a metasearch platform, integrating the smart solutions and offering matchmaking features
- Creating inclusive business models
- Elaborating policy recommendations and governance frameworks
The role of alchemia-nova
alchemia-nova is mainly involved in the development of Smart Solutions within the FUTURAL domain of Circular Bioeconomy, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Management. We will provide our expertise in the development of the Circular Bioeconomy Smart Solution in the rural pilot region of Pongau (Austria) that promotes sustainability through the mapping of material flows, identifying reuse opportunities and biomass valorisation pathways, and optimizing underutilized vacant buildings for circular economy practices. We will also support the development of a Wildlife Monitoring Tool in the pilot region of Jonava (Lithuania), by providing information on biodiversity and opportunities for ecosystem management that support sustainable regional development.
Partners
Project Coordinator:
Agricultural University of Athens
Partnership Consortium:
alchemia-nova research & innovation gemeinnützige GmbH – ANRI
ICCS – Institute of Communication and Computer Systems
University of Pisa – PAGE Pisa Agricultural Economics
AEIDL – European Association for Innovation in Local Development
University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest
Foodscale Hub
Tecnalia
Art21 – Agrifood Tech Innovation House
IHE Delft Institute for Water Education
DLR – Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt
The Lisbon Council
Regionalverband Pongau
Municipality of Birda
Kytherian Foundation for Culture and Development
Urkiola Landa Garapena
Jonava
West-Vlaanderen
Aquatim
PREPARE – Partnerships for Rural Europe
ERCA – European Rural Community Alliance
Project status:
Starts 06/2023, Duration: 48 months
Call: HORIZON-CL6-2022-COMMUNITIES-02-two-stage
Topic: HORIZON-CL6-2022-COMMUNITIES-02-01-two-stage
Type of Action: HORIZON-IA
Grant Agreement Number: 101083958
Overall costs: €7.222.408,75
EU contribution: €6.985.671,25
