In October 2019 the Social Innovation Think Thank, SIMRA partners, local actors and stakeholders met in Aberdeen, UK to capture the lessons learnt from Social Innovation Actions.Continue reading
Revitalising rural areas thanks to village bistros: A practice guide from Massif Central
In rural areas, in particular in the most remote ones, bistros and cafes are places for local communities to meet but most of them also provide services and organise cultural events. The French government announced in September new measures to be implemented within its rural agenda, including the support to local shops and bistros. Starting such an activity from scratch is however far from being easy. A practice guide, produced by the Network of Natural Parks of Massif Central, gives you all the keys for success to build a vibrant place for a territory and its inhabitants.Continue reading
Social Innovation, the key to face challenges in Rural Areas
An advanced course on Social Innovation in Rural Areas will be held at the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Zaragoza (Spain) on 18-22 November 2019.
This course is an inherent part of the EU-funded project Social Innovation in Marginalised Rural Areas (SIMRA) (www.simra-h2020.eu), which is aiming at making better use of social innovations to encourage the development of less-favoured rural areas.Continue reading
Social innovation in organic farming to revitalise rural areas
Article originally published in Spanish on Revista Agricultura Ecológica number 35.
Available in Spanish here.// Disponible en castellano aquí.
Traditionally, extensive farming[i] has been one of the activities that has fixed more population in disadvantaged rural areas in Europe and the Mediterranean. Moreover, it creates jobs and shapes most of our ecosystems. However, isolation and depopulation in these areas translate into the loss of their activities and the landscapes associated to it. That is why it is necessary to seek new practices that assure its social and economic sustainability.
In that sense, the European project SIMRA (Social Innovation in Marginalised Rural Areas)[ii] shows us some examples. This project aims to make progress in the understanding of social innovation and innovative governance in agriculture, silviculture and rural development and enhance implementation in disadvantaged rural areas in Europe and the Mediterranean. It also understands social innovation as “reconfiguration of social practices, answering social challenges, looking to improve well-being and involve civil society’s actors.”[iii]
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The Social Innovation family: what about the social economy and digital social innovation?
During the European Industry Days, taking place in Brussels, on 5-6 February 2019, a special focus was given to the wider family of social innovation including social enterprises and digital social innovation. Both the European Economic and Social Council (EESC) and DIESIS, the EU network specialised in supporting social economy and social enterprise development, organised events taking stock of the current policy situation and providing concrete examples.Continue reading
Advanced International Course on Social Innovation in Rural Areas
A one-week training course will be organised in the framework of the H2020 EU-funded project Social Innovation in Marginalised Rural Areas (SIMRA) (www.simra-h2020.eu) at the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Zaragoza (IAMZ-CIHEAM) on 18-22 November 2019 to address the importance of social innovation in less-favoured rural areas.
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Social innovation and other forms of innovation: experiences from the Forum Carpaticum meeting, Eger 2018
The Forum Carpaticum brings together the science community interested in social and biophysical sciences in the Carpathians every two years. In the programme notes it is stated that “the 5th Forum Carpaticum will specially highlight prioritized topics on biodiversity conservation and sustainable tourism development and education for sustainable development (ESD).” Overall, there was an emphasis on the biophysical sciences, especially ecology, forestry and fluvial geomorphology, but there was a range of social scientists represented and some of the natural scientists are now moving towards interdisciplinary work with social scientists and also transdisciplinary work.
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A new SIMRA brochure of inspiring examples of social innovation in mountain areas!
SIMRA’s fourth brochure collecting examples of social innovation in marginalised rural areas has just been published. This collection of brochures aims at concretely illustrating social innovation through the presentation of local on-going initiatives throughout Europe and the Mediterranean basin, taking turns addressing different marginalized rural areas. This brochure addresses mountain areas.
SIMRA WP4 – Evaluation framework for Social Innovation
What is social innovation? How does it emerge? And can we evaluate the process and impacts of social innovation in marginalised rural areas? Take a look at this video, produced by SIMRA’s WP4 team, composed by the University of Padova and ETIFOR.
Register now to the RUMRA breakfast on Smart Villages
With the support of SIMRA, Euromontana is co-organising with MEP Franc Bogovič (EPP) a RUMRA breakfast on “How can social innovation help villages become smarter?”.
The Breakfast, organised within the framework of the European Parliament Intergroup on Rural, Mountainous and Remote Areas (RUMRA), will be held at the European Parliament, in Brussels, on 27 June 2018 and will focus on the new concept of “Smart Villages”.