This 2023 edition of the Forum will discuss the main elements and enabling conditions of the Startup Village concept through a genuine science-for-policy interaction, supporting the identification and analysis of triggering factors for innovation and startup creation in rural areas.
Chaired by European Commission Vice-President Dubravka ŠUICA, Commissioners FERREIRA, GABRIEL, and WOJCIECHOWSKI, and European Committee of the Regions Vice-President, Apostolos TZITZIKOSTAS, the 2023 edition of the Forum will discuss the main elements and enabling conditions of the Startup Village concept through a genuine science-for-policy interaction, supporting the identification and analysis of triggering factors for innovation and startup creation in rural areas.
The full event can be followed via livestream.
28 February 2023, 09:00 CET – 28 February 2023, 17:30 CET
Belgium
Live streaming available
Programme
28 Feb 2023
08:30 AM – 09:20 AM CET
Registration and welcome coffee
09:30 AM – 10:30 AM CET
Welcome and opening statements
10:30 AM – 11:15 AM CET
What is a Startup Village? The conceptualisation
11:15 AM – 11:45 AM CET
Coffee break
11:45 AM – 01:30 PM CET
What is a Startup Village? Open discussion: experiences from the territories and new evidence on ecosystems functioning
01:30 PM – 03:30 PM
Lunch
02:30 PM – 03:30 PM CET
Round table on existing policies, knowledge and instruments for rural innovation and entrepreneurship
03:30 PM – 04:00 PM CET
Coffee break
04:00 PM – 05:00 PM CET
Policy Roundtable – Looking ahead: making it easier for innovative entrepreneurship in rural villages
05:00 PM – 05:15 PM CET
The way forward: launch of the Startup Village mapping tool
05:15 PM – 05:30 PM CET
Closing remarks
Description
The Startup Village Forum is part of a larger vision for rural areas in the EU. In 2021, the European Commission set out the Long-Term Vision for the EU’s Rural Areas. The Vision identifies several areas of action toward stronger, connected, resilient and prosperous rural areas and communities by 2040. The Vision recognises the enabling role of innovation to empower citizens and entrepreneurs to seize these opportunities offered by current societal, environmental and digital transformations. It includes a flagship action on Research and Innovation for Rural Communities aiming at contributing to the development of a strong ecosystem, which brings together public and private players for rural communities to thrive, and be an attractive place for innovators to work and live.
In this context, the annual European Startup Village Forum intends to promote knowledge exchange and cooperation activities and to work as an open space where institutions and stakeholders can meet, discuss and shape action for startup-driven innovation in rural areas.
This 2023 edition of the Forum will discuss the main elements and enabling conditions of the Startup Village concept through a genuine science-for-policy interaction, supporting the identification and analysis of triggering factors for innovation and startup creation in rural areas. Participants are also expected to debate and propose concrete actions on how the Forum can develop as a linking device to work together with existing initiatives and connect actors around the challenge of startup creation in rural areas and the importance of developing performing place-based innovation ecosystems.
The Forum will also offer the opportunity to discuss a number of ongoing experiences related to Startup Villages as well as supporting tools, both established by the European Commission and developed by different stakeholders. For example, some support measures for the promotion of innovation and startup creation in rural areas and the improvement of framework conditions included in different EU policies and programmes, will be presented.
The Forum is expected to contribute to the identification of a few themes for a research and knowledge exchange agenda around the Startup Village concept, whose results will inform and frame the following edition of the Forum. The Forum is supported by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre through scientific analysis and knowledge exchange, in connection with the activities of the Rural Observatory.
Contacts
Joint Research Centre (JRC)
Email: JRC-STARTUPVILLAGEFORUM@ec.europa.eu
