Welcome Addresses

• Vyara Mincheva
  Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works | EU Danube Strategy Presidency Bulgaria
• Ivan Ivanov
  Mayor of Sevlievo
• Andrea Ikić-Böhm
  Austrian Ambassador to Bulgaria | Ministry for European and International Affairs, Austria

Keynote

“Smart Rural Transitions: The Strategic Role of Community-Led Local Development”

• Stefan Spasov
  Ministry of Agriculture and Food, Bulgaria

Moderation

Claudia Singer-Smith
EU Danube Strategy - Priority Area "Institutional Capacity and Cooperation" | City of Vienna

Panel Discussion

• Ivaylo Stoyanov
  EU Danube Strategy Presidency Bulgaria | Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works
   
• Carlo Vigna
  EU Alpine Strategy Action Group 5 "Connectivity and Accessibility" | Valle d´Aosta Autonomous Region
   
• Esa Kokkonen
  EU Baltic Sea Strategy Policy Area "Innovation" | The Baltic Institute of Finland
   
• Iva Čaleta Pleša
  EU Adriatic-Ionian Strategy Pillar 4 "Sustainable Tourism" | Ministry of Tourism and Sport
   
• Johan Magnusson
  European Commission - DG REGIO

Moderation

Peter Niederer
Swiss  Center for Mountain Regions

The World Café Sessions aim at exploring potentials and needs for smart rural development in the future in order to better address territorial polarisation and territorial cohesion with regards to the Multi-annual Financial Framework 2028-2034.

Each World Café topic will be presented in an Elevator Pitch. Participants can choose 3 topics that they can discuss in the 3 rounds:

1st round: 20 minutes | 2nd round: 15 minutes | 3rd round: 10 minutes

• Bridging Service Provision Gaps with Digitalisation
  World Café Facilitator: Peter Niederer, Swiss Center for Mountain Regions, SmartCommUnity
   
• Pairing Policy Design with Social and Digital Innovation for Long-term Strategic Planning
  World Café Facilitator: Matteo Gerosa, Fondazione Bruno Kessler, Smart Era
   
• Socio-economic Challenges for Smart Rural Development
  World Café Facilitator: Jenny  Uusikartano, The Baltic Institute Finland, Smart Era
   
• Inclusive Stakeholder Involvement for Co-designing Rural Policies
  World Café Facilitator: Francesco Vettore, University of Bologna, RURACTIVE
   
• Shaping inclusive rural digital transitions through community-led approaches
  World Café Facilitator: Carlo Giua, University of Pisa, FUTURAL

Introductory Presentation & Real-Life Examples

The session aims at providing a better understanding on how smart rural development could be put into practice by presenting the approach of ‘Smart Innovation Packages’ developed in the SMART ERA project and to showcase how this approach has been put into practice with the example of the Devetaki Plateau in Bulgaria.

• Matteo Gerosa
  Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK)
• Gianluca Lentini & Ossi Kotavaara
  Poliedra - Politecnico di Milano & University of Oulu
• Iva Taralezhkova
  Devetaki Plateau Association

Interactive Guided Workshop

The workshop provides the opportunity to test the Smart Innovation Package approach to better understand how rural challenges could be addressed with this methodology. Participants will be working together in small groups and will be supported by SMART ERA partners.
Participants can choose a region or smart innovation policy that they are interested in to get better insights into the methodology.

• Devetaki Plateau (BG): Healthcare & Tourism
  Workshop Facilitator: Iva Taralezhkova & Ina Kostova (Devetaki Plateau Association)
   
• East Herzegovina (BA): Rural Tourism
  Workshop Facilitator: Slavica Smaradzic & Milica Kovacevic (Slow Food Trebinje)
   
• Northern Ostrobothnia (FI): Smart Rural Economy
  Workshop Facilitator: Ossi Kotavarra (University of Oulu) & Saija Tikkanen (Council of Oulu Region)
   
• Smarje-Padna (SI): Rural Mobility
  Workshop Facilitator: Natasa Bozic (University of Ljubljana)
   
• Sóller/Tramuntana (ES): Tourism and Agriculture
  Workshop Facilitator: Pierrick Le Guillou (AnySolution, S.L.) & Aina Mora (Més Cultura)
   
• Valle di Sole/Trento (IT): Rural Agri-Food
  Workshop Facilitator: Francesca Leoni (Autonomous Province of Trento) & Elena Not (Fondazione Bruno Kessler)

Presentation and Q&A

The session presents the outline of the up-coming SMART ERA 2nd Open Call for Follower Micro-Pilots that supports rural areas in developing their own smart rural development approach.

• Yolanda Moreno González
  Funding Box

Wrap-up

• Claudia Singer-Smith
  EUSDR Priority Area 10 "Institutional Capacity and Cooperation" | City of Vienna