RURACTIVE webinar marking the World Rural Development Day 2026
Are you supporting rural communities through research, policy, funding or capacity building?
Are you interested in rural innovation and community-led development?
On the occasion of World Rural Development Day 2026, RURACTIVE invites stakeholders from across Europe to join an interactive webinar exploring how rural territories can build and sustain vibrant innovation ecosystems that support long-term regeneration and development.
Title - Building Rural Innovation Ecosystems for the ‘Right to Stay’: Lessons and Opportunities from RURACTIVE
Dates - 6 July 2026 | 14:00–15:30 CEST | Online Webinar
Why attend?
Rural areas across Europe are facing major challenges linked to demographic change, service provision, economic opportunities, and the green and digital transitions. At the same time, they hold significant potential to drive place-based, community-led innovation. Unlocking this potential requires stronger collaboration between local actors and more effective ways of overcoming fragmentation.
Drawing on experiences from the Horizon Europe project RURACTIVE, this webinar will showcase how Rural Innovation Ecosystems can help rural communities co-create solutions, strengthen local partnerships and build resilience over the long term.
The session will also connect local experiences with current European policy developments, including the EU Long-Term Vision for Rural Areas, the Rural Pact and the emerging “Right to Stay” strategy, which aims to support thriving rural communities through targeted investments and reforms.
Participants will have the opportunity to:
- Explore the challenges of actor fragmentation in rural territories across Europe;
- Redefine the "Right to Stay" by discovering how biodiversity, climate adaptation and mitigation, and social justice act as essential pillars for territorial attraction.
- Discover evidence and lessons from the development and replication of Rural Innovation Ecosystems within RURACTIVE;
- Learn about the role of anchor organisations in mobilising stakeholders and fostering inclusive co-creation processes;
- Reflect on concrete strategies for sustaining rural initiatives beyond project funding cycles.
Programme Highlights
The webinar will feature:
- A policy keynote on the Rural Pact and place-based innovation;
- Practical insights on stakeholder engagement and the role of anchor organisations in building trust and driving inclusive co-creation, particularly for women, youth, the elderly, and vulnerable groups;
- Presentation of the RURACTIVE co-creation methodology for building Rural Innovation Ecosystems;
- Long-term concrete examples on maintaining partnerships, governance structures and impact beyond project lifetimes;
- A live Q&A session with speakers and participants.
Full agenda
| Timing | |
|---|---|
| 14.00–14.10 | Welcome & framing Claudia de Luca University of Bologna |
| 14.10–14.25 | Policy keynote: The Rural Pact and place-based innovation Enrique Nieto Team Leader of the Rural Pact Support Office |
| 14.25–14.45 | The RURACTIVE methodology: a co-creation process Francesco Vettore University of Bologna Natalya Voloshyna FORZA |
| 14.45–15.00 | Building trust and ensuring inclusion: designing rural services for everyone Becca Vincent GrowBiz Scotland |
| 15.00–15.15 | Culture-based regeneration: from a festival to a community cooperative in Val di Fiastra Matteo Giacimelli INABITA, Milan Polytechnic |
| 15.15–15.30 | Q&A and open discussion |
Please register your attendance here until 3 July 2026!
.png "RURACTIVE_1200x1200_int.day%20of%20RURAL%20women_general1%20%289%29")