The European Startup Village Forum

Programme

1. 28 Feb 2023, 08:30 - 09:20 (CET)

   Registration and welcome coffee
2. 09:30 - 10:20 (CET)

   Welcome and opening statements

   Welcome address by Mikel LANDABASO ALVAREZ, Director, European Commission, Joint Research Centre

   Mariya GABRIEL, European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth

   Janusz WOJCIECHOWSKI, European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development

   Elisa FERREIRA, European Commissioner for Regional Policy and Reforms

   Maria da Graça CARVALHO, Member of the European Parliament

   Apostolos TZITZIKOSTAS, First Vice-President of the European Committee of the Regions

3. 10:20 - 10:30 (CET)

   Video message from Dubravka ŠUICA, Vice-President for Demography and Democracy, European Commission
4. 10:30 - 11:15 (CET)

   What is a Startup Village? The conceptualisation

   Moderators: Fernando MÉRIDA MARTÍN and Simone SASSO, European Commission, Joint Research Centre

   Bryonny GOODWIN-HAWKINS, main author of the conceptualisation paper

   Discussants:

   Daniela STORTI, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics (CREA) and Riabitare l’Italia Association, Italy

   Radim SRŠEŇ, Mayor of Dolní Studénky, Deputy Minister of Regional Development of the Czech Republic and Member of the European Committee of the Regions

    

5. 11:15 - 11:45 (CET)

   Coffee break
6. 11:45 - 12:30 (CET)

   Open discussion - Experiences from the territories: Listening to rural innovators' voices

   Moderator:  Pascale VAN  DOREN, Team Leader, Rural Pact Support Office

   Liam CRONIN, CEO Research, Development and Innovation Hub, Killorglin, Ireland

   Ricardo GONÇALVES, Manager @ Invest & Startup Fundão, Fundão, Portugal

   Sotiris TSOUKARELIS, The High Mountain Cooperative, Tzoumakers, Greece

   Marion ECKARDT, Vice-President, European LEADER Association (ELARD)

7. 12:30 - 13:30 (CET)

   Open discussion - New evidence on rural innovation ecosystem functioning

   Moderator: Magda DE CARLI, Deputy Director, European Commission, Directorate-General for Research and Innovation

   Michelle MARSHALIAN, Regional and Rural Policy Unit, OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities  

   Simona TONDELLI, RURITAGE Horizon project 

   Kristina ŠERMUKŠNYTĖ-ALEŠIŪNIENĖ, Director of AgriFood Digital Innovation Hub, Lithuania

   Evelyn REINMUTH, Hub of European Universities Alliance

   Chiara TAGLIARO and Ilaria MARIOTTI, coordinators of COST Action and CORAL-ITN projects on the role of new working spaces supporting the development of innovative ecosystems in rural areas

8. 13:30 - 14:30 (CET)

   Lunch
9. 14:30 - 15:30 (CET)

   Policies, knowledge and instruments for rural innovation and entrepreneurship

   Moderator: Mario MILOUCHEV, Director, European Commission, Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development

   Maura FARRELL, Associate Professor University of Galway, & coordinator of FLIARA on women-led innovation (HORIZON Europe)

   Andy ZYNGA, CEO, EIT-FOOD

   Tom JONES, President of ERCA, European Rural  Community Alliance and member of the European Rural Parliament Steering Group

   Edina OCSKO, Project Coordinator of Smart Rural 21 & Smart Rural 27 projects. Director of E40

10. 15:30 - 16:00 (CET)

    Coffee break
11. 16:00 - 17:00 (CET)

    Policy Roundtable – Looking ahead: making it easier for innovative entrepreneurship in rural villages

    Moderator: Salla SAASTAMOINEN,Deputy Director-General, European Commission, Joint Research Centre

    Isabel FERREIRA, Portuguese State Secretary for Regional Development

    Päivi EKDAHL, Deputy Governor of Lapland, Finland

    Emil BOC, Chair of the Commission for Territorial Cohesion Policy and EU Budget (COTER), European Committee of the Regions

    Juan GARCÍA-GALLARDO FRINGS, Vice-President of Castilla and Leon, Spain

    Franc BOGOVIČ, Member of the European Parliament, Co-Chair of the RUMRA & Smart Villages Intergroup

    Juana LÓPEZ PAGÁN, Ministry of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, Spain

12. 17:00 - 17:15 (CET)

    The way forward: launch of the Startup Village mapping tool

    Mikel LANDABASO ALVAREZ, Director, European Commission, Joint Research Centre

    Elisa BAZZANI, European Commission, Joint Research Centre

13. 17:15 - 17:30 (CET)

    Closing remarks

    Salla SAASTAMOINEN, Deputy Director-General, European Commission, Joint Research Centre

14. Show 8 more items
15. 17:30 - 19:00 (CET)

    Cocktail reception

Practical information

Report

The Startup Village Forum is part of a larger vision for rural areas in the EU. In 2021, the European Commission set out the Long-Term Vision for the EU’s Rural Areas. The Vision identifies several areas of action toward stronger, connected, resilient and prosperous rural areas and communities by 2040. The Vision recognises the enabling role of innovation to empower citizens and entrepreneurs to seize these opportunities offered by current societal, environmental and digital transformations. It includes a flagship action on Research and Innovation for Rural Communities aiming at contributing to the development of a strong ecosystem, which brings together public and private players for rural communities to thrive, and be an attractive place for innovators to work and live.

In this context, the annual European Startup Village Forum intends to promote knowledge exchange and cooperation activities and to work as an open space where institutions and stakeholders can meet, discuss and shape action for startup-driven innovation in rural areas. 

 

Program

The 2023 edition of the Forum discussed the main elements and enabling conditions of the Startup Village concept through a genuine science-for-policy interaction, supporting the identification and analysis of triggering factors for innovation and startup creation in rural areas. Participants debated and proposed concrete actions on how the Forum can develop as a linking device to work together with existing initiatives and connect actors around the challenge of startup creation in rural areas. They also discussed about the importance of developing performing place-based innovation ecosystems.

The Forum served as an opportunity to discuss a number of ongoing experiences related to Startup Villages as well as supporting tools, both established by the European Commission and developed by different stakeholders. For example, some support measures for the promotion of innovation and startup creation in rural areas and the improvement of framework conditions included in different EU policies and programmes were presented.

The Forum contributed to the identification of a few themes for a research and knowledge exchange agenda around the Startup Village concept, whose results will inform and frame the following edition of the Forum. The event was supported by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre through scientific analysis and knowledge exchange, in connection with the activities of the Rural Observator, and it was chaired by the European Commission Vice-President Dubravka ŠUICA, Commissioners FERREIRA, GABRIEL, and WOJCIECHOWSKI, and European Committee of the Regions Vice-President, Apostolos TZITZIKOSTAS.