RURACTIVE Dynamos Host Third Local Workshop to Refine and Evaluate Their Innovative Rural Development Solutions

During March and April 2025, the third round of RURACTIVE Dynamo Local Workshops brought together over 200 local stakeholders across the 12 Rural Innovation Ecosystems. Community members, innovative actors and local businesses worked together to take another important step forward in shaping the future of their rural regions.

Building on the momentum of the previous local workshops, this round focussed on refining and evaluating the feasibility of the solution proposals previously co-developed. The emphasis was on rigorously defining each aspect of the implementation process for each solution. This included the list of activities and their targets, associated costs, monitoring indicators, and impacts, all while ensuring each aspect was grounded in RURACTIVE’s guiding principles of inclusion, participation, gender sensitivity, innovation, and its core crosscutting priorities (climate mitigation and adaptation, biodiversity, and social justice and inclusion).

Stakeholders engaged in hands-on exercises using the tailored RURACTIVE model Canva—a structured, principle-aligned framework designed to assess every dimension of a proposed solution. Facilitated by the Dynamos, this Canva enabled participants to work collaboratively through a series of guiding questions which helped sharpen the clarity and implementability of each proposed rural development solution.

Key outcomes of the third local workshop included:

• Fine-tuned solution proposals, guided by the RURACTIVE model Canva
• Stakeholder commitment building, including the exploration of formal and informal partnerships and agreements to support future implementation

Following the workshops, the solutions will undergo a final refinement, led by the Dynamos, and will then be integrated into the Local Action Plan of each Rural Innovation Ecosystem.

This third round of workshops marks a pivotal moment in the RURACTIVE journey, as ideas evolve from possibility to action-ready blueprints, supported by engaged communities and aligned with broader sustainability goals.

Keep an eye out for further updates as the project moves forward and our Dynamos near the implementation phase of their innovative rural development solutions!

The workshop of Dynamo 2 - Suedburgenland, Austria

At the workshop of Dynamo 4 - North-East Scotland, UK

The Ruractive Model Canva for a solution of Dynamo 5 - Andalucia, Spain

The workshop of Dynamo 6 - Zagori, Greece

The RURACTIVE Model Canva for a solution of Dynamo 6 - Zagori, Greece

The workshop of Dynamo 8 - Fiastra Valley, Italy

The workshop of Dynamo 11 - Gotland, Sweden