SIRR - Sustainability, Innovation, and Resilience in Rural areas

The project is supported by the Interreg North Sea programme with a project period between 2022 – 2027, with a total budget of € 5.6 million.

The collaboration includes local development hubs in Sweden, Denmark, Germany and France.  The hubs share a strong commitment to fostering development and engaging all actors in the rural and coastal areas to address local challenges.

Through the hubs, the project engages and connects local innovators, SMEs, associations, local authorities and community stakeholders to enhance local initiatives and improve innovation capacity, competitiveness and resilience.

Background

The general urbanization and the younger generations move to the larger
university cities have made it necessary for the coastal and rural areas to come up with new ideas to maintain preexisting town communities and to continue being attractive for settlement and business. In that connection, local businesses, organizations, and innovators need support and it is essential that these actors - alongside authorities and knowledge partners - are provided the best possibilities for creating sustainable and robust development and growth in the rural and coastal areas.

The Project

The SIRR-project is set to develop locally anchored strategies and networks to both uphold and attract talent and entrepreneurial skills and increase action ability. The target groups are local innovators, small and medium-sized enterprises, associations, and local authorities who wish to attain better access to innovation support and increased innovation capacity by involving further actors and human capital in local innovations.

The project’s organisation is structured around the Multi Helix Model which is used to form partnerships between municipalities, knowledge partners, local businesses, local population, and other actors.

Via the project, the essential elements, values, competences, tools, and data, necessary to establish and implement real and effective social innovation processes in rural and coastal municipalities, are searched. Furthermore, focus will be to create social value throughout the process - not just for the final result.

University West – A Research Knowledge Partner

In the SIRR project, University West focuses on researching, analysing and comparing co-creative efforts and models to support sustainable rural development, using a transdisciplinary approach to bridge science and practice.

Through the project, University West explores essential elements, values, competences, tools, and data needed to execute genuine and impactful social innovation processes in rural and coastal municipalities.

Partners in the project

Sotenäs municipality in Sweden is Lead Partner and responsible for the overall project management. Skagen Education Center is assisting Lead Partner and responsible for project communication.

Furthermore, the below associations and knowledge institutions are project partners:

Denmark:
Laesoe Tourist and Business Association, The Association
Stenvad Mosebrug and Aarhus University

Sweden:
University West and HoloHouse

France:
City of Louvigné Du desert, Community of Communes du
Pays de Lumbres and Agency for Urban Planning and
Development of the Saint-Omer Flandre
Intérieure Region

Germany:
University of Vechta