Today, each of us imagines what the concept of a smart village should look like and what its components are. On the other hand, do we know what a startup village should look like? What are its most important elements? How could the synergy between the youth and the startup village work? Recently European Commission has launched the Startup Village idea which is a part of the EU’s long-term vision for rural areas and the Commission Action Plan for Rural areas. Possibilities for implementing this concept in Lithuania will be discussed between European Commission and the Lithuanian experts at the webinar “Moving from Smart to Startup Village: challenges and possibilities in the local ecosystem” organized by AgriFood Lithuania DIH on 28 February. The free of charge webinar will be held in Lithuanian. Pre-registration is required.
“Startup Village brings hope to rural areas across Europe. It will bring new job opportunities to all: the youth and the seniors. Villages across Europe will become innovation ecosystems, where the talent of their people will have the opportunity to realise their full potential without having to leave their village. The Commission has included Startup Village as one of the flagships of the new Long term Vision for Rural Areas, but we can only realise its full potential with the full engagement of the rural population and the local authorities”, – said Isidro Laso Ballesteros, Cabinet Expert at Commissioner Mariya Gabriel cabinet for Innovation, Research, Education, Culture and Youth at European Commission, who will give a speech during the webinar.
As organizers informed, a targeted direction of Startup Village development could ensure the economic development of the regions, the wider adoption of digital solutions, the involvement of young people and women and the achievement of the goals of the Green Deal as well as a successful adaptation to changes in business and society. Also, the Startup Village concept implementation would boost research and innovation in rural communities and help build up a more innovative entrepreneurship that will attract more young and talented people.
“Startup Village concept is a great idea which has a lot of potential to create a lot of well-paid work places in rural areas. The technologies and innovative solutions have the potential to bring back more entrepreneurs – especially young people with startups – to the regions. We all have to work together and to ensure the support for investments and funding, create an necessary infrastructure for startups in rural areas, help them to gain new competences, provide test-before-invest opportunities, provide the possibility to test startup products in real conditions. So there is a need to create a startup ecosystem with shared values in rural areas. All community members should be included: local business, farmers, research institutions, local public authorities and finally society. Such organizations as DIHs could be orchestrator for these ecosystems”, – said director of AgriFood Lithuania DIH Kristina Šermukšnytė-Alešiūnienė, the organizer and moderator of this official local event of the EU Industry weeks.