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Find out how a LEADER project revitalised the town centre of Enns, in Upper Austria, by introducing an innovative concept offering flexible rental options to pop-up shops.

Find more good practices supported under LEADER/CLLD in our Project Database.

The latest edition of the ENRD networking magazine ‘Rural Connections’ is now available in English on the ENRD website.

This time around, we Focus on…Communications: exploring some of the latest thinking and profiling inspiring communications practices that support Rural Development policy implementation.

Catch up with the latest in European rural development in our regular digest of news and updates and discover a variety of perspectives on topics ranging from the first ever Balkan Rural Parliament, to rural broadband networks, and the bioeconomy.

Subscribe to receive free paper copies of future editions in English, French, German, Italian, Polish and Spanish, write to subscribe@enrd.eu.

The latest editions of the ENRD thematic publications are now available online in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Polish.

• EU Rural Review 25 on 'Resource Efficiency’ overviews practice and examples of how the EU's Rural Development policy can be best used to support an improved management of natural resources.
• Issue 26 on ‘Smart Villages: Revitalising Rural Services’ (also available in Czech) explores how digital and social innovation can be used in new, creative ways to improve basic rural services.
• The EAFRD Projects Brochure on ‘Digital and Social Innovation in Rural Services’ profiles social and digital initiatives that are enhancing rural services such as health, education, mobility, energy, and digitisation of the village itself.

Send us your examples of small and medium size businesses, social enterprises, public or private initiatives contributing to the development of rural bioeconomy value chains and clusters in rural areas – please fill in our short survey by 31 January 2019!

The examples will feed into an inventory of European rural bioeconomy initiatives that will be widely disseminated  - browse through our collection so far.

Explore the insights of Local Action Groups (LAGs) on LEADER/CLLD implementation in your country!

Country-level working papers on LAGs’ experiences and suggestions for improvement – drawing on the findings of the largest and most comprehensive LEADER survey ever, conducted in November 2017 – have been made available by the ENRD Contact Point. The papers complement an EU-level report published earlier in 2018.

The latest meeting of the dedicated ENRD Thematic Group (TG) – 5 December 2018 in Brussels, Belgium – explored the toolkit of policy instruments that can support the implementation of Smart Village strategies or plans.

LEADER/CLLD, cooperation and digital strategies can play an important role in supporting a set of actions that can enable the implementation of Smart Village strategies. Additionally, there are opportunities for levering in further investments through the EU’s Cohesion policy and Financial Instruments, among others.

For more information, explore the resources available on the ENRD Smart Villages Portal. Join us in the Facebook community and share your thoughts with over 200 members.

A recent ENRD workshop (10 December 2018 – Brussels, Belgium) analysed support under the current Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for young farmers and explored innovative ways of encouraging young entrants into farming.

The event provided a platform to share opinions and ideas, and to discuss how to design a generational renewal strategy in the future CAP Strategic Plans under the post-2020 CAP proposals. The event was intended primarily for national authorities, with some stakeholder and expert involvement.

For the first time ever, the ENRD Contact Point is organising Rural Inspiration Awards to celebrate rural development projects that show how the policy contributes to a more competitive, sustainable and inclusive rural Europe.

Entries are proposed by National Rural Network (NRN) support units. A jury of experts will select a winner for each of five competition categories: improving the competitiveness of rural areas; environment and climate action; rural revitalisation; social inclusion; and LEADER/CLLD. An extra award will be selected by popular vote.

Watch out for the winners to be announced at ‘networX’, the ENRD networking event taking place in Brussels on 11-12 April 2019.

A recent ENRD workshop (8 November 2018 – Brussels, Belgium) explored ways of effectively identifying, collecting and disseminating project examples and good practices supported under the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD).

The event was intended for representatives of the National Rural Network (NRN) support units who exchanged on their differing national approaches. These included contacting project holders, adding value and capitalising on the collected examples, and disseminating them effectively.

The latest meeting of the European Rural Networks’ Assembly (11 December 2018 – Brussels, Belgium) considered the state-of-play of discussions on the post-2020 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) legislative framework, specifically focusing on networking and innovation.

Assembly members exchanged on the role and governance of the future ‘CAP networks’, the contribution of networking within Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKIS), and elements related to the new performance, monitoring and evaluation framework proposed under the new CAP.

The FI Campus event of 3-5 December 2018 (Brussels, Belgium) explored new opportunities for the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) – including the rural development fund (EAFRD) – under the Omnibus Regulation.

Watch the video overviewing the main types of Financial Instrument products (loans, guarantees, equity and quasi-equity) that can be used in conjunction with ESIF and browse through a collection of success stories in a range of EU Member States and regions.

Browse through a set of 16 projects, funded under the EU’s Horizon 2020, which have used bio-based innovation to develop high-value market applications.

Bio-based innovation can potentially contribute to building a bioeconomy that will reduce dependence on fossil feedstocks and help to meet the EU’s climate goals, while at the same time relieving pressure on ecosystems and creating green jobs.

Look out for EIP-AGRI’s upcoming workshop on ‘Opportunities for farm diversification in the circular bioeconomy’ on 6-7 February 2019 in Vilnius, Lithuania.