From the Best Practice Brochure
In Skåne, Sweden, the Innovation Centre for Rural Development is supporting entrepreneurs through tailored coaching, targeted matchmaking & long-term partnership building. Explore more examples from the brochure, which highlight how place-based innovation can boost resilience, competitiveness and social cohesion in rural areas..... Read More
Discover an inspiring initiative connecting rural entrepreneurs to the wider innovation ecosystem from the first edition of the Good Practice Brochure: https://bit.ly/43Ti4Cp
Since 2015, Sweden's Innovation Center for Rural Development has acted as a permanent intermediary rather than a time-limited project. Work starts with intake and matchmaking: rural founders approach the Centre (or are referred by municipalities), which maps the challenge and connects them to the right person or program in the regional/national system (researchers, incubators, funders, public agencies). Founders then receive one-to-one coaching and light-touch project support so they can move from idea to pilot without leaving their community.
To generate ideas and knowledge flow, the team runs innovation camps and thematic workshops, as well as informal meet-ups, such as ‘Eat lunch with a researcher’, where entrepreneurs test questions with academics. To fill system gaps, the Centre convenes new collaboration arenas – for example, ‘Grow More’ meetings with the agricultural university and farmer organisations – and co-produces meta-studies (e.g. digital/AI in agriculture) with green cluster networks. Delivery is multi-level: locally with municipalities and regionally with innovation intermediaries; nationally with universities and networks. Throughout, the Centre’s role is to connect, not replace existing structures, build trust and proximity, and hand back ownership to rural actors so they can operate more independently over time.
In Skåne, Sweden, the Innovation Centre for Rural Development is supporting entrepreneurs through tailored coaching, targeted matchmaking & long-term partnership building. Explore more examples from the brochure, which highlight how place-based innovation can boost resilience, competitiveness and social cohesion in rural areas: https://bit.ly/4vsT80P
Browse other Good Practices on innovation on the Rural Pact's database: https://bit.ly/4b7mvgL
#RuralPact #RuralVisionEU
Future Economic Rural Network (FERN) Social Innovation+ Initiative FUTURAL Project ESIRA Project Nordregio The European Platform on Rural Innovation (EPRI) ERRIN Landsbygdsnätverket
SUSTAINAGRO
Sustainability in Rural Enterprises and Innovation
A member of the Social Innovation Stakeholders Network - www.SocialInnovationActions.Org
Contact: info@sustainagro.net
