Pilot 1, situated in Ireland's Monaghan County, aims to foster a vibrant, integrated, and sustainable rural-urban community supported by a circular and green economy by 2040. Reflecting the Irish Pilot’s commitment to sustainability, the roadmap has updated its research focus to “Advancing the Circular Economy in County Monaghan: Exploring Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Environmental Products and Services.”

Specific objectives to be addressed:

• Uncover pathways for sustainable enterprise development in the circular economy
• Identifying emerging sectors and innovative practices in the circular economy.
• Highlight opportunities for growth in the circular economic sector with focus on innovation and entrepreneurship.
• Full integration of social enterprises advancing inclusive, community-driven circular growth.
• Enhanced quality of life, with Monaghan serving as a model for balanced and regenerative rural-urban collaboration.

Slovakia's pilot (Pilot 2), covering the entire country, focuses on envisioning more attractive and resilient rural areas, striving to revitalise Slovak rural regions through inclusive stakeholder engagement, strengthening political leadership, and enhanced capacity-building efforts. This pilot serves as a comprehensive platform for collaborative policy design through transparent consultations and participatory decision-making processes, essential for shaping impactful policies.

Specific objectives to be addressed:

• Developing a sharedVision to make rural areas a desirable place to live, work, visit and invest by addressing the needs and aspirations of local communities.
• Revitalization of Slovak rural areas by implementing sustainable development initiatives that promote economic diversification, environmental stewardship and social well-being in rural areas.
• Strengthening stakeholder engagement and capacity building by empowering local stakeholders to co-create actionable solutions that address rural challenges.
• Facilitating Inclusive consultations and decision-making processes ensuring that diverse voices are heard through participatory foresight exercises, fostering policies that reflect the collective needs of rural communities.

This pilot aims to bridge the urban-rural divide by integrating digital tools, foresight methodologies, and cross-sector collaborations to craft a future-ready roadmap for Slovakia's rural transformation.

Pilot 3, located in the region of Central Greece, is geared towards providing training in sustainable agritech technologies and promotional services for agritourism. By enhancing digital skills and promoting local agricultural products, this pilot aims to stimulate economic diversification and capitalise on the region's natural resources.

Specific objectives to be addressed:

• Training for sustainable agritech technologies
• Promotional services for agritourism
• Increase in digital skills among AKIS actors
• Diversification of agritourism opportunities and promotion of local agricultural products

Italian pilot (Pilot 4), situated in Apulia, emphasises the establishment of short food supply chains to strengthen connections between rural and urban areas. By promoting healthy diets and rural lifestyles, this initiative aims to foster synergies and collaborative models between urban dwellers and rural communities.

Specific objectives to be addressed:

• Establishment of short food supply chains
• Promotion of healthy diets and rural lifestyles
• Creation of direct linkages between rural and urban citizens
• Attraction of urban dwellers to rural areas

Pilot 5 in Finland, situated in the Mallusjoki rural district, aims to build a Rural Event Industry Ecosystem, fostering community engagement, public-private partnership, and economic opportunities through rural events. By enhancing and leveraging the region's natural- and human assets, innovativeness and creative sector, this pilot seeks to attract visitors from urban areas and stimulate community driven rural development.

Specific objectives to be addressed:

• Building the Rural Event Industry Ecosystem
• Community engagement and collaboration for wellbeing
• Economic opportunities through rural events
• Renew the community premises to Green Culture Centre in line with New European Bauhaus policy
• Attraction of urban visitors to rural areas

Pilot 6, the Bavaria-Czechia rural innovation network, defined by the Bohemian Forest (Šumava and Bayerischer Wald) and surrounding areas, aims to enhance connectivity, innovation, and social capital across rural and urban areas. By establishing incubators and fostering cultural connections, this pilot strives to create a conducive environment for rural startups and strengthen territorial identity.

Specific objectives to be addressed:

• Establishment of the Bavaria-Czechia Rural Innovation Network
• Improvement of connections and strategies for synergistic development
• Enhancement of business and innovation opportunities
• Strengthening of social connectivity and territorial identity
• Support local farming practices and food supply chains in order to meet sustainability targets

Spanish pilot (Pilot 7), situated in Segobriga and region of Sierra y Mancha Conquense, centres on rural-urban synergies and cultural heritage, leveraging the Segobriga Archaeological Park as a focal point for community collaboration and economic development. This initiative aims to attract visitors, foster local entrepreneurship, and bridge the gap between rural and urban areas.

Specific objectives to be addressed:

• Promotion of rural-urban synergies and cultural heritage
• Utilisation of interconnected sites engaging public private stakeholders supported by ADESIMAN as Local Action Group
• Economic development through community collaboration
• Bridging the gap between rural and urban areas

Pilot 8 in Latvia's Vidzeme Planning Region is a public regional development institution. Its mission is to coordinate and promote long-term and well-balanced development of the region, which is guided by the VPR Development Programme (DP). So far there are no systematic mechanisms to monitor progress of VPR DP on a territorial level, and so far, it is monitored only on an organization level. It is very important that each goal and planned activities of a VPR DP responds directly to needs of inhabitants and where possible actively involve them into the action. Therefore, a transparent, reliable system for collecting, aggregating and communicating regional development progress to the public is a necessity. The establishment of a unified monitoring framework in the Vidzeme planning region as a territory is very important in order to ensure a successful development management process and feedback to each of the parties involved in the implementation of the VPR Development Programme, thus also promoting the interest and involvement of each resident of the region in the development of their place, region and Vidzeme region as a whole.

Specific objectives to be addressed:

• Together with relevant stakeholders prototyping the systematic mechanism and potentially applicable ICT solutions for the monitoring of the development initiatives aligned with the Development Programme of the Vidzeme Planning Region as a territory.
• Uniting and mobilizing stakeholders to take ownership towards implementing and identifying regional development initiatives that are aligned with the Development Programme of the Vidzeme Planning Region.

Pilot 9 in Malta targets digital transformation and entrepreneurial capacity building in rural areas, aiming to level up agricultural sectors through digitization and youth empowerment. By fostering collaboration between rural and urban stakeholders, this pilot endeavours to bridge societal divides and promote circularity.

Specific objectives to be addressed:

• Digital transformation and entrepreneurial capacity building in rural areas
• Levelling up of agricultural sectors through digitization
• Empowerment of youth and promotion of circularity
• Bridging societal divides between rural and urban areas