Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - RUBIZMO (Replicable business models for modern rural economies)

Teaser

Rural areas cover more than 50% of Europe’s surface and are home to over 20% of its population and play an important role in Europe’s economy, with the agricultural sector in particular supporting millions of jobs. However, rural areas face numerous challenges. Global...

Summary

Rural areas cover more than 50% of Europe’s surface and are home to over 20% of its population and play an important role in Europe’s economy, with the agricultural sector in particular supporting millions of jobs. However, rural areas face numerous challenges. Global competition, automation, changing markets and environmental challenges are all having an impact on rural activities.

RUBIZMO will generate jobs and growth in highly diverse rural areas by stimulating the large-scale deployment of successful, localised and innovative business models in the food sector, bio-based value chains and eco-system services. This deployment will foster the modernisation and sustainable growth of rural economies while providing significant potential to create added-value, social cohesion and resilience, and contribute to more sustainable use of human and natural resources.

RUBIZMO believes that a new set of dynamics means rural economies are ripe for change. New communication technologies to support collaboration, shifting value chains and a growing acknowledgement of biodiversity and climate change mitigation all present significant opportunities as well as challenges. Experts from across Europe will be examining how ‘hot spots’ for business success in this environment can be nurtured and eventually recreated elsewhere.

The rural economy holds great potential for pioneering deeply embedded sustainability and social return on investment in business models. In this respect, RUBIZMO will highlight the best business models and initiatives that create value for the economy, environment and society in equal measure.
RUBIZMO will focus on three key elements to help make this happen:
- Identifying and analysing promising business models and collaborative networks fertile for up-scaling and replication
- Providing easy access overviews of these rural ‘hot spots’ of business innovation and practical support tools for entrepreneurs, local networks and policy makers to adopt them
- Active coaching of entrepreneurs and peer-to-peer training focusing on creating the novel collaboration patterns RUBIZMO assessment has identified as key for improved competitiveness and sustainability of the business model.

Work performed

Screening and data collection.
More than 400 projects were selected in the first hand, and after filtering out the projects with no replicability potential and those who would not be willing to collaborate, 39 projects were selected. A parallel process had to be used to find other innovative business cases. In total we contacted 137 business cases in the first round of interview where we collected information about the business pre-conditions, the business environment, the novelty, etc. This information was used to select 65 business cases to proceed with a deeper interview.

Analysis and benchmarking
Based on the data gathered in the second round of interviews, a socio-economic and environmental analysis of the innovative business cases have been carried out. 40 business cases are part of the analysis which has been submitted as a report. Different approaches were used to select the 10-20 most innovative business models.

Business environments, network & clusters.
Using the data collected in the interviews as well as literature reviews, the consortium performed analyses on supportive business environments and on the role of networks and clusters in rural development.

Business tools development.
Three of the four business tools have been developed in this first period. The virtual library (Business tool 1) is available online on a beta version. The data gathered during the interviews are used by the virtual library. The development of the toolkit for clustering and networking (business tool 3) and the transformation tool (business tool 4) have also started in this period but will be fully developed in the next period.

Hotspots for rural entrepreneurship and anticipated futures for modern rural economies.
Two more theoretical reports have been written during this period. The first one offers a definition of rural entrepreneurship and give example of existing hotspots for rural entrepreneurship. The second one reviewed literature about policies for rural development, innovation, entrepreneurship and bioeconomy in order to conceptualise modern rural economies

Capacity building.
The partners working with the capacity building activities have been working on planning the coming activities. The strategy is to develop customised plans in each county based on the partners’ abilities and network but using a common content and structure.

Establishment of National Stakeholder Panels.
Each country has developed a so-called National Stakeholder Panel (NSP) consisting of organisations working within rural development.

Communication.
The communication team has produced communication material including logos, templates, leaflets, and a website. The mid-term conference was organised in Brussels at the end of first period. The event brought together over 105 stakeholders, and was recorded and retransmitted online via livestreaming. Rubizmo partners organised a Rural Business Innovation Awards online competition, in order to raise awareness about interesting business cases identified within the project and reward the most inspiring cases selected by the team.

Final results

The RUBIZMO project will transform business opportunities into replicable examples of proven business models that can create shared value, and contribute to more sustainable use of natural resources. The project will also identify the favourable framework conditions for rural innovation and entrepreneurship, in order to create tools, training and other initiatives targeted at:

a) European, national, and regional policy actors by outlining and formulating policy environments and support agendas for business and service actors building on business models and business ideas that allow a resilient and sustainable development of communities in rural areas.
b) Providers of services for business development by offering attractive examples of business models and business ideas that can act as guidelines, reduce investment risks and are in line with rural development policies.
c) Entrepreneurs and businesses by offering coaching and direct support for developing business plans, and new skills for potential entrepreneurs.

Three complementary and interlinked sectors have been chosen for analysis because of their commercial potential, prospects for sustainable job creation and social value to rural communities. Food and agriculture, bio-based value chains and ecosystem services all present promising opportunities for rural economies.

The results of the work carried out within RUBIZMO will facilitate the creation of four complementary tools:
- Virtual Library: Access an extensive library of proven business models and explore interactive material and practical examples to understand how to implement them.
- Transformation Support Tool: Understand which business model is the best for each business case and receive personalised advice to implement the business ideas.
- Cooperation Toolkit: Learn how to structure and access vital cooperation with an online tool that gives tailor made advice according to business model type.
- Training: Explore the training resources and pinpoint favourable conditions to replicate innovative business ideas and models.

Website & more info

More info: https://rubizmo.eu/.