Rural Living Labs for the innovation of the internal rural territories of Campania
Project aims
As the global context continuously puts under stress our rural system, our business systems, our social inclusion and local economic development processes, RULAB project aims to be a pilot for a new organizational model. This new model will exploit the innovation potential coming from the inner Campania region by connecting inland rural areas with the external system of innovations, as showed by the Living Lab model: "rural laboratory" where agricultural economy and innovation coexist. In particular, the RULAB project will validate new models of rural innovation through 3 living labs experimentation.
The activities of the RULAB Project have enabled the achievement of the set objectives: strengthening regional agricultural systems in more inland areas as innovation systems through the creation of a network of collaborations among enterprises operating in different economic sectors. The outcome has indeed been the establishment of a significant list of stakeholders, both within the Campania region and across Italy, whose participation has initiated a dialogue aimed at consolidating the evaluation of results and, above all, identifying, through a co-generation process, further possible innovative solutions tailored to specific sectoral and territorial needs. The proposed and tested innovations have proven to be of great interest to the partnership's companies as they contribute to improving competitiveness and economic outcomes.
Project activities description
The project is thoroughly organized in perfectly functional and related activities, from identifying local innovation needs to supporting the project start-up. In particular:
- Shared workplace (coworking)
- Center for studies on open innovation applied to rurality
- Local and global venue for widespread events
- Rural Start-up incubator
- Mentoring and Project Financing
- Laboratory where the proposed innovative solutions can be tested in real contexts
Project’s context description
The RULAB project context falls within the macro areas C and D (RDP program) with the primary goal to address the issue of economic, social and environmental stability of the innermost areas of the Region. In these areas agriculture plays a primary role, although 53% of the 109,963 farms have an area of less than 2 Ha (Istat 2010) showing a large pulverization of land ownership. These poor structural characteristics translate into the economic size of the farms and in their reduced organizational and managerial capacity. These conditions do not facilitate investments in research and development, therefore in innovation, and negatively influence the company's limited operating margins.
The analysis reveals the presence of a few high-quality companies, often linked to specific sectors, such as viticulture, which have reached more mature levels of cooperation.
The territories’ necessities are the following: strengthening and consolidation of the networks between operators in the same sector, by linking all the areas involved and having the actors of the knowledge system promote innovation and internationalization; to improve the organization of local agri-food chains; to increase the spread of entrepreneurship and the culture of business risk; to encourage company turnover and strengthen the profitability of the agricultural sector (both through cost reduction and through the enhancement of production) by reducing the risks of abandonment and depopulation of rural areas.
Innovation’s description
The proposed innovation is of an organizational / managerial kind. Starting from the needs analysis - developed and shared through the Rural Living Labs (RRL) – it aims to increase social and relational capital, recognized as fundamental for circulation of ideas and knowledge and for the activation of development mechanisms. Through the Operational Group, the aim is to scale up the innovation gained at business level, complementing it with a scientific validation and sharing it with the other actors of the system. Thus, it succeeds in making the innovation suitable for being transferred to other farms operating in similar structural and market environment.
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Sito del progetto
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Video - RULAB incontra AGRICOLUS - La piattaforma per l'agricoltura di precisione
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Materiali utili
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Video - RULAB incontra Krill Design
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Materiali utili
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