Interested parties from research institutions, higher education institutions, companies, public and non-governmental organizations are invited to apply for the competition by submitting ideas for small research projects. These projects should include a compilation of good practices and recommendations, as well as stakeholder involvement, contributing to the development of the Vidzeme Planning Region’s development monitoring framework. The call is open for applications with funding of up to EUR 5,000 for a small study; one application will be supported.
The Vidzeme Planning Region (VPR) is involved in the broad partnership of the Horizon Europe project PoliRuralPlus, within which the Vidzeme pilot will develop the building blocks for a common monitoring framework for the development of the Vidzeme region.
The role of the VPR is to coordinate and promote the long-term and balanced development of the Vidzeme region, as set out in the VPR Development Programme. So far, the monitoring of the implementation of the VPR Development Programme has not had a systematic mechanism to collect information on developments and progress across the whole territory of the region, which has also been implemented by enterprises, NGOs, educational institutions, research institutions, municipalities, and other relevant stakeholders. The establishment of such a territorial monitoring framework in the Vidzeme region is essential to ensure a successful development process and monitoring for each of the action lines of the VPR Development Programme. This would promote awareness of the region’s development processes, increase interest and confidence of the population in development progress, and enhance their willingness to participate in the region’s development and in shaping their own living space.
In the framework of the open call, the VPR would like to receive suggestions and identify existing good practices that would help to build a regional development monitoring system (NUTS3 level) for the different action lines, based on multi-stakeholder engagement mechanisms and digital solutions. The proposed solutions may thematically cover one of the areas listed below to highlight the potential for transferability of practical solutions:
- Development of a sustainable and resilient rural economy in the Vidzeme region.
- Production of high added-value products and services in the Vidzeme region’s smart specialization areas and strengthening the monitoring of their territorial effects.
- Effective mechanisms for stakeholder involvement in the governance of rural and urban areas in the Vidzeme region.
- Promoting the use of innovation support instruments by enterprises in the region.
The competition is being held simultaneously in nine project partner countries. Submitted research proposals are eligible for a one-off funding of EUR 5,000. Several other open calls for research ideas are foreseen over the next year.
Proposals must be submitted in English until 31 July. Implementation of the research is expected between October and December 2024. For more information on the application and evaluation criteria, visit: https://www.poliruralplus.eu/open-calls/
In addition, you can watch a video presentation prepared by the Vidzeme Planning Region on the context of the region’s research needs: https://youtu.be/Iob4qfWeAIc
The activities are taking place within the framework of the Horizon Europe project “Sustainable, balanced and collaborative development of urban and rural areas through data-driven decision-making” (PoliRuralPlus). It aims to promote sustainable, balanced, collaborative, and integrated development of urban and rural areas that encourages and supports the use of innovative methods and data-driven decision-making.
Funded by the EU. The views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) alone and do not reflect the views of the EU or the European Research Executive Agency (REA). Neither the EU nor the funding body can be held responsible for them.
