Tag: country focus

The Social Innovation in Marginalised Rural Areas (SIMRA) project, funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, operated from 2016 to 2020. Its main objective was to deepen our understanding of social innovation and innovative governance within agriculture, forestry, and rural development sectors, with a particular focus on Europe's marginalised rural areas as these often lack evidence of successful outcomes and necessary supporting conditions. Read on for an overview of the project, its achievements, and how MARGISTAR will use its findings to uncover further transformation pathways for European marginalised mountain regions.

By Dr Michelle Cowley-Cunningham and Antonia Egli (Dublin City University) Rural development creates vibrant environments with improved economic opportunities for people to live and work....

By Klaus Wagner, Ingrid Machold, and Somaye Latifi (Federal Institute of Agricultural Economics, Rural and Mountain Research (BAB), Vienna) The number of challenges that mountains...

Mountain areas attract outstanding numbers of tourists. After beaches and islands, they act as the second most demanded outdoor destination for tourism activities. Where agriculture has long been the main source of income and entire areas are characterised by outmigration, tourism has sustainably improved and transformed the working and living conditions of local populations. Based on work being done in Austria, this blog shares insights into how promoting tourism activities in so-called Mountaineering Villages as a means of income diversification beyond traditional sectors can pose as an effective solution in marginalised mountain areas. 

On April 17 and 18, the Irish Institute of Digital Business (IIDB) at Dublin City University (DCU) welcomed international researchers from the MARGISTAR COST Action to the project's second annual General Assembly in Dublin. Prof Theo Lynn, Prof Colm O'Gorman, and Antonia Egli represent Ireland within the MARGISTAR consortium and lead the Action's Science Communications team. Over two days, consortium members focused on strategies to further progress MARGISTAR during the second grant period and met with stakeholders in Ireland to understand how different communities were seeking to address issues through rural town regeneration, digitisation, re-afforestation, or diversifying agriculture.  

Given the many potentials and challenges of mountainous areas, diversifying sources of income through Green Care can present sustainable opportunities for marginalised mountain communities. In Austria, expanding product portfolios in the agricultural and forestry sectors is a viable strategy of agricultural and forestry enterprises and smallholders to ensure economic sustainability.