The second EU Rural Innovation Forum online session will focus on the policy and ecosystem conditions that enable the uptake, scaling and transferability of rural innovation approaches emerging from Smart Villages and related initiatives.
Building on the outcomes of the EU-RIF held in Jonava, Lithuania, this online session will translate practical experiences into structured policy insights. It will explore the governance mechanisms, policy frameworks and innovation support structures needed to move from local experimentation to wider and more systemic uptake in rural areas.
The discussion will bring together FUTURAL partners, sister projects, policy stakeholders and EU-level actors, contributing to FUTURAL policy recommendations in support of post-2027 EU programming debates.
Objectives
This FUTURAL EU-RIF 2 online session aims to:
- Contribute evidence-based insights to FUTURAL policy recommendations and strengthen synergies across EU rural innovation initiatives.
- Present and discuss key insights emerging from the EU-RIF Jonava event, including challenges, enabling conditions and policy gaps identified across Smart Villages and rural innovation practices.
- Identify key policy and governance factors enabling the uptake of rural innovation in different territorial contexts.
- Exchange experiences with sister projects on policy learning, scaling pathways and interoperability opportunities.
- Contribute to the validation of governance and policy proposals, including aspects related to scaling, funding and cross-project policy instruments.