The activities of the European Union's research and innovation program HORIZON 2020 project "SHERPA - Sustainable Hub to Engage into Rural Policies with Actors" are already counting the results of the first project implementation cycle. Activities of the project were presented and discussed on the 19th of May 2022 in the scientific-practical conference "Entrepreneurship and Social Economy in the Regions: Needs, Challenges and Necessary Scientific-Practical and Political Intervention" in Druskininkai.
The theme of the conference was the continuation of the implementation of the Long-Term Rural Vision until 2050 prepared within the scope of the SHERPA project. In the previous stages, the direction of “prosperous rural areas” was formed, covering changes in production and diversification of the rural economy, in 2022 dedicated to the issues of entrepreneurship and social economy, just transformation, as well as short and sustainable supply chains.
The conference focused on entrepreneurship and the social economy, just transition, and short and sustainable supply chains. The conference's presentations and discussions included an overview of the current situation in the field, trends, and co-working methods helped to clarify key needs, challenges and identify specific areas for scientific-practical and policy intervention.
Representatives of the Office of the Committee on Rural Affairs of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania, the Ministry of Agriculture, Lithuanian Union of Rural Communities, the Network of Local Action Groups (LAGs), Klaipėda District Municipality, Druskininkai LAG, Aukštaitija Narrow Gauge Railway participated in the conference.
The results of the discussion will be used to prepare a Position Paper on "Entrepreneurship and the Social Economy in the Regions", which will be submitted to the European Commission together with reports prepared by teams of experts from other EU countries.
SHERPA project comprehensively addresses the full scope of the H2020 Coordination and Support Action for the topic “RUR-01-2018-2019 - D Rural society-science-policy hub”, agreement No. 862448.
Total project budget is 5 mil. Eur. Project duration: 4 years.
More detailed information is available online: https://rural-interfaces.eu/
Project coordinator in Lithuania dr. Živilė Gedminaitė-Raudonė
tel. (8 5) 261 7071, email:zivile.gedminaite@ekvi.lt;
tel. (8672) 00413, email: rita.lankauskiene@ekvi.lt
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