Progress meeting April 2024 – The RURACTIVE consortium meets in Visby
After kicking off project activities in September 2023, the RURACTIVE consortium came together from 11-12th April 2023 for their first progress meeting at the Gotland Campus of the University of Uppsala, Sweden. After a warm welcome from the hosts, University of Uppsala and Region Gotland, project coordinator Prof. Simona Tondelli from the University of Bologna set the stage for fruitful and intense days of presentations, workshops and discussions.
During the two meeting days, all of the different RURACTIVE work streams were presented to create a common understanding of the current priorities for all partners. It was evident that, since the start of the activities last year, the project has advanced with great strides, benefiting from the commitment and enthusiasm of all partners and the expert coordination of the University of Bologna team, lead by Claudia de Luca.
In order to progress the research into innovative ways to empower rural communities to bring about change to their regions, a productive session was conducted to test a catalogue of solutions for a diverse set of rural challenges. This will be filled in during the next months and forms a foundation for innovative solutions to be established by the different Dynamos locally during the project.
In a further exercise, Dynamos and Technical Partners worked on testing the methodology co-developed by RURACTIVE partners for implementing Rural Innovation Ecosystems. Here, the focus was clearly on analysing already identified local stakeholders according to their influence on and interest in particular solutions.
An important aspect to RURACTIVE is communication, at project but even more importantly, local level. During a session, partners explored ways in which Dynamos can be best supported or support each other in engaging their local communities to co-design new ways of improving life in their regions.
While work sessions were intense and leisure time restricted, the RURACTIVE consortium took great pleasure and privilege in being in the historical town of Visby, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, on the Swedish island of Gotland. With their unique rural characteristics, Gotland is one of the Dynamo regions of RURACTIVE that strives to further engage their local communities in actively shaping life on the island. The consortium had a wonderful introduction to the surroundings and the opportunity to share a communal dinner at Warfsholm restaurant near Klintehamn, to the south of Visby.
Multilevel knowledge and competence transfer among RURACTIVE Technical Partners and Dynamos is at the core of the project. Therefore, the consortium meeting was complemented by peer-to-peer learning activities, providing invaluable opportunities for Dynamo partners to exchange and learn from each other. Participants were hosted by Energicentrum Gotland, introduced to their mission and how they practically accelerate the energy transition on the island. This was followed by a visit at the Wind section of the University of Uppsala to learn about their research and an introduction to the project GECO (Gamifying Energy Communities) to understand how including gaming design into the development of practical tools to the rural citizens of Gotland can promote the energy transition, among others. The second day invited participants to a study visit to Sibbjäns farm. This is a highly innovative and circular project with the aim to create a farm, hotel and restaurant that is self-sufficient in energy, food and water and recycles all waste.
A big thank you goes out to all attendees of and contributors to the meeting. A special thanks goes to Energicentrum Gotland of Region Gotland and the University of Uppsala for the very warm welcome and fantastic meeting organisation.
The RURACTIVE consortium partners at University of Uppsala - Gotland Campus 
Plenary activities 
Workshop session 
RURACTIVE partners at Sibbjäns farm for a study visit 
Sharing a communication initiative from Finland 
Rural Gotland