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Women and Food – the Heart of the Slovak Rural Areas
World Food Day (16 October) and the International Day of Rural Women (15 October) are two meaningful occasions that share a common message: food is not just nourishment, it is a gift rooted in c
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From Ideas to Action: Insights from the Second Agri-Tech Ideathon Webinar
Building on the momentum of its successful first session, the second MaYA Agri-Tech Ideathon webinar provided a deeper dive into Malta’s agricultural challenges and set the stage for ideation. The di
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Setting the Stage for the Malta MaYA Agri-Tech Ideathon - 1st Webinar
The MaYA Foundation recently hosted its first webinar for the Agri-Tech Ideathon, setting the stage for an inspiring initiative that bridges creativity, technology, and agriculture. The Ideathon aims
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Go Mallusjoki! Ideathon brought people together in July 2025
Avoin Ry organized Go Mallusjoki! 24.7.2025 in Mallusjoki, Finland. The goal of the event was to collectively create new ways to market local events and support communal development, as well as provi
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Data to Develop Hackathon: Co-Creating the Future of Regional Development through AI and Collaboration
The Data to Develop (D2D) hackathon, organized under the PoliRuralPlus Mobilise Call, brought together municipal experts, planners, IT specialists, and researchers from across the Vidzeme Planning Re
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Insights from the D2D Hackathon Final Meeting in Vidzeme/Latvia
On October 6, an online meeting marked the conclusion of the Data to Develop (D2D) hackathon, where results were presented to the Vidzeme Planning Region and future development directions were discus
Read morePoliRuralPlus Main aim
PoliRuralPlus extends and enriches the achievements of its predecessor, the PoliRural, by delving deeper into the complexities of rural and urban interconnectivity. It deploys a sophisticated suite of digital tools, including Artificial Intelligence, Geographic Information Systems, Internet of Things, and advanced data analytics. The project's core mission is to tackle prevalent issues such as administrative fragmentation, inequality, and inefficiencies
in public service coordination, fostering an environment of enhanced cooperation and equal opportunities across rural and urban divides. Central to PoliRuralPlus are 9 pilot projects that serve as proving grounds for an EU-wide integrated approach to territorial planning and action foresight. PoliRuralPlus ambitiously expands its scope to include the urban dimension, thus embracing a broader perspective on development.
PoliRuralPlus Objectives
To develop and implement a foresight-based framework for interregional cooperation and coordination, aimed at overcoming policy barriers and improving governance arrangements to foster integrated and smart rural-urban development strategies
To develop and implement integrated strategies and action plans that enhance the availability of business and innovation opportunities in rural areas, while promoting a more proximate, circular, and green economy and revitalising rural places through better connectivity, improved valorization of cultural and natural heritage, and stronger innovation ecosystems.
To enhance mutual access to services and social connectivity between rural and urban areas, as well as build resilience and capacity for innovation through the implementation of regional action plans and pilot initiatives.
Contribute to the implementation of the European Green Deal, with a specific focus on the farm-to-fork and biodiversity strategies, the organic action plan, the common agricultural policy (CAP), the long-term vision for the EU’s rural areas, the flagship initiative “Research and innovation for rural communities,” and the EU territorial agenda for 2030.
To enhance cross-disciplinary collaboration and leverage the full potential of European Research Infrastructures, EOSC, EU Data spaces, INSPIRE, Copernicus, DIAS, Eurostat, FAO, and other relevant data sources for integrated rural-urban development.
To facilitate mission-oriented experimentation and innovation by leveraging data-driven decision-making, collaborative analysis, and system dynamics to advance the development of a well-being economy based on proximity, circularity, green economy/society, services, culture, landscape and heritage, and mobility.
To create synergies with the New European Bauhaus (NEB) and other EU-funded projects, facilitating ideas flows from urban to rural settings and vice versa.
