OREN

GREENER C GB The OREN project has the objective to involve rural entrepreneurs in an interactive multi-stakeholder learning platform, which will train the participants in advanced managerial and business skills.

Project co-financed by the ERASMUS+ Programme of the European Union, 2020 – 2023

Highlights

European rural entrepreneurs face similar challenges when they try to adapt their business to a circular approach. The OREN project analysed these barriers and the competences that could guide rural entrepreneurs towards the implementation of circular rural business models. The analysis focused on Italy, Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, and Spain, also providing a set of local promising rural business cases. ACR+ presented an overview of the key role played by rural Small and Medium Enterprises in Europe, also analysing practical case studies located in the different regions of Belgium. The reports are available here.

THE PROJECT

THE PROJECT

The role of rural areas for the prosperity of the European Union (EU) is widely acknowledged. Meanwhile, rural areas tend to lose their positions and opportunities in an increasingly urbanizing world. Despite the diversity of rural areas in terms of their socio-economic performances, natural characteristics, and cultural heritage, most of them demonstrate intrinsic fragility in social, economic and environmental aspects, and, consequently, different rural areas face common challenges, experience depreciation of their values and underutilization of the opportunities they are able to provide. Hence, the OREN project aims to:

Provide a better understanding of the modern rural economies, describe successful rural business models and identify the factors that can lead to rural sustainable development;
Provide tools for rural entrepreneurs such as a database of business cases and an interactive learning platform;
Stimulate local economic development especially in sparsely populated territories and remote areas;
Increase the added value of those businesses and lead to job creation in rural areas;
Make rural businesses more sustainable and resilient to changes that hinder their development.

ACTIVITIES

ACTIVITIES

The project will produce a study on the most promising community-based rural business models, analysing the main challenges and success factors. Then, the partners will focus on the fundamental dynamics explaining the community-based approach, through a collaborative model building approach. It will be then the moment to create a suite of simulation models and an interactive learning platform, which will provide a set of 5 complementary courses, with related course materials and with the support of the decision support system. The course will address the following topics: (1) Legislative skills (EU agenda on rural development); (2) Technical skills; (3) Methodological skills (mathematical modelling; rural business innovation); (4) Sociological skills; (5) Entrepreneurial skills. Online courses will be produced in English and all the elaborated material will be translated into the partners’ languages too (Italian, French, German, Bulgarian, Greek). Finally, the partners will produce a set of guidelines describing rural development strategies and a set of recommendations based on lessons learnt during the project executions.

PARTNERS INVOLVED

PARTNERS INVOLVED

OREN' project leader is SYDIC, SYSTEM DYNAMICS ITALIAN CHAPTER (IT) and its project partners are:

ACR+, Association of Cities and Regions for sustainable Resource management (BE)
EURO EDUCATION BULGARIA Ltd (BG)
CAMARA OFICIAL DE COMERCIO E INDUSTRIA DE BADAJOZ (ES)
INTELLIGENT DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS (GR)
SYMPLEXIS (GR)
Federconsumatori Lazio (IT)
ITALIENISCHE HANDELSKAMMER FUR DEUTSCHLAND (DE)

More information:

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