RUBIZMO: the first results after six months

After the first six months of work, RUBIZMO partners gathered in Madrid on 16 and 17 October to share their primary results and discuss the development of the project business tools. In introduction, three inspiring business cases from Spain, Sweden and Denmark were presented to the consortium. The first one, presented by Grupo Cooperativo Cajamar, is fighting against land abandonment in Spain through innovative social and organisational practices. More information on the project can be found in the video below:

    

After this first presentation, Uffe Bundgaard-Jørgensen from Gate2Growth showcased an example of sustainable seaweed cultivation tested in the Faroe Islands, and Thomas Norrby from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences introduced the aquaponics system used to produce sustainable tomatos in Sweden.

These inspiring introductions were followed by a presentation of the project first Policy brief, setting the scene for modern rural economies. A summary of the report is already available in English and will be translated in various national languages for collecting feedback from rural stakeholders on future trends and needs for the revitalisation of rural areas. To make sure that the policy brief reflects actual views and concerns from rural stakeholders, partners also discussed the involvement of National Stakeholder Panels of rural actors, taking part in RUBIZMO to help validating the project results and testing its business tools.

In addition, Karen Hamann from the Institute for Food Studies and Agroindustrial Development (IFAU) presented the first results related to the identification of European hotspots for rural entrepreneurship. The afternoon of 16 October was dedicated to intense discussions on the future transformation support tool. On the second day, partners kick-started the work on two new project activities, including:

  • The identification of supportive environments to achieve business success in rural areas;

  • And the assessment of networks' role in rural business success.

In the coming months the project will contact coordinators of rural development project and business owners to discover the key factors guaranteeing business success in rural areas.