“Social Innovation in Marginalised Rural Areas” (SIMRA) is a project funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. SIMRA seeks to advance understanding of social innovation and innovative governance in agriculture, forestry and rural development, and how to boost them, particularly in marginalised rural areas across Europe, with a focus on the Mediterranean region (including non-EU) where there is limited evidence of outcomes and supporting conditions.
Since starting in 2016, SIMRA has been at the forefront in promoting the contribution of social innovation to social, economic and environmental development in disadvantaged rural areas. The project team has explored vibrant examples of community led projects some of which will be presented during this event to determine triggers and drivers, development patterns, factors of success and evaluation criteria for social innovation in rural areas.
SIMRA is organising its final conference in Brussels on February 19th, 2020. The event will showcase the project’s main findings and discuss their policy implications at all levels (EU, national, regional and local), and with regards to the legislative reforms still in discussion for the next EU programming period 2021-2027.
A technical workshop will be organised the next day, on February 20th, 2020 for a specialised audience. Participants will have the opportunity to learn how to use the tools developed by SIMRA to support the implementation of social innovations, to evaluate social innovations in rural areas and to discuss policy-making bottlenecks and enabler sin the field of social innovation.Continue reading
