Czech-Bavarian border region (Czechia-Germany)

Rural pilot 6: Czech-Bavarian border region (Czechia-Germany)

Rural district description

The Czech-Bavarian border region is a predominantly rural, mountainous and sparsely populated territory shaped by the Šumava/Bayerischer Wald landscape, strong environmental values, and long-standing cultural and economic ties between Czechia and Bavaria. The pilot focuses primarily on the Klatovy district and surrounding rural areas, where demographic pressures, limited access to innovation support and uneven service availability coexist with strong tourism, forestry, agriculture and SME potential. The region benefits from proximity to Bavarian research and innovation ecosystems, especially around Deggendorf and the Technology Campus model, but cross-border cooperation remains constrained by institutional fragmentation, language barriers and uneven territorial capacity. Within PoliRuralPlus, the Czech-Bavarian pilot acts as a living laboratory for testing how rural border regions can strengthen rural-urban linkages, improve access to knowledge and services, and localise innovation through practical cooperation between municipalities, universities, SMEs, farmers, NGOs and regional development actors.

Challenge description

The pilot addresses the challenge of building an innovation ecosystem in a rural border territory where businesses, municipalities and communities often lack proximity to research institutions, business support services and advanced digital capacities. Existing urban incubator and innovation campus models are often poorly adapted to sparsely populated regions with weaker transport connectivity, fragmented governance and smaller innovation networks. At the same time, the region faces climate-related pressures affecting agriculture and forestry, youth outmigration, labour shortages and limited opportunities for entrepreneurial experimentation. The pilot therefore focuses on adapting and transferring elements of the Bavarian Technology Campus model to the Czech context while strengthening cross-border cooperation and rural resilience. Activities include stakeholder mapping and engagement, testing digital and AI-supported tools, cooperation with universities and innovation actors, support for SMEs and startups, hackathons and innovation workshops, training activities, and the exploration of climate-smart and place-based solutions relevant to local agriculture, services, tourism and community development. A key challenge is ensuring that innovation becomes territorially embedded and accessible to rural actors rather than concentrated in distant urban centres.

Czechia_tourists-riding-bicycle-landscape

Anticipated result

The anticipated result is a practical and durable cross-border innovation ecosystem centred on Klatovy and linked to Bavarian partners through institutional partnership training, advisory services, and knowledge exchange. Rather than a single physical hub, the pilot aims to establish a functioning rural innovation support model that combines local stakeholder networks, digital tools, advisory capacities and cross-border collaboration mechanisms. Expected outcomes include improved support for rural SMEs, farmers and entrepreneurs; stronger engagement of young people, researchers and startups in regional problem-solving; enhanced climate-smart and digital capacities; and stronger cooperation between municipalities, academia, business and civil society. In the longer term, the pilot seeks to demonstrate how rural border regions can strengthen attractiveness, retain talent and anchor innovation locally by translating external know-how into solutions adapted to local territorial needs and opportunities.

Open Calls

FarmTourist

The FarmTourist project, implemented in the Czech–Bavarian border region under PoliRuralPlus, aimed to connect small and medium-sized farms with gastronomy and tourism. The project organized a major workshop, “From Farm to Tourist” (January 2025, Klatovy), bringing together over 40 stakeholders — farmers, tourism operators, policymakers, and researchers — to share best practices and co-create innovative business models linking regional food production, local hospitality, and sustainable tourism.

DIPS

The DIPS project organized a two-day Ideathon in Klatovy to co-create digital solutions improving rural–urban linkages in the Czech–Bavarian border region (Šumava–Pošumaví–Bavarian Forest). It brought together students, farmers, tourism actors, local producers, municipalities, and IT experts to develop prototype concepts addressing real regional needs. The project used PoliRuralPlus tools (JackDaw, MapWhiteboard, territorial attractiveness data) to generate data-driven concepts. Four prototypes were developed:

Farmappka – connects regional food producers with restaurants and customers.
AgriFarm – AI-based assistant for farmers integrating LPIS, weather, soil, and subsidy data.
ViaPoint – smart tourism app with AI visitor-flow prediction and gamification.
Regional Portal – decision-support tool for municipalities integrating regional data and funding sources.

LocalLinks.AI

LocalLinks.AI is a digital and AI-supported platform designed to map, analyse and strengthen short food supply chains in the Pilsen Region. By integrating data from agriculture, retail, public administration and tourism, the tool visualises relationships between local producers and buyers, helping to improve transparency, coordination and efficiency of regional food systems. The platform combines interactive mapping, AI-supported data analysis and a GeoAI chatbot (JackDaw) to make complex data accessible and actionable for farmers and other
stakeholder.