INTEGRURAL is a strategic partnership (SP) that brings together a public government institution, universities and SMEs dealing with sustainable development in the field of agricultural production and cultural heritage. It seeks to address the need for educational activities aiming at capacity building and networking in - and between - European rural areas for the promotion of sustainable and integrative development. Furthermore, with the recent experienc of the lockdown due to COVID-19, it will also explore ways of using digital media for promoting, marketing and even seling products through on-lline apppllications and networks. INTEGRURAL involves training actions for persons acting as entrepreneurs and/or as members of producers’ organisations, NGOs and cultural institutions in rural areas. Its thematic scope encompasses agricultural production, stockbreeding activities, promotion of cultural (immaterial) heritage, and local branding in an integrated approach. The two main objectives of the Strategic Partnership are (1) to set in motion a structured training process through a three-tier training module (training of trainers, local training actions, job shadowing), and (2) to build on the training process for the formation of local business clusters. These clusters will create together a "virtual hub" that will enable the exchange of information, of good practices and know-how, as well as the elaboration of strategies for added-value incentives and local branding. The clusters, interlinked in the "virtual hub", will serve as focal points for cooperative solutions and the promotion of innovation in rural areas. INTEGRURAL will contribute to the development of local capacities towards cooperation, creativity, networking, and extroversion. Making use of the local potential (agricultural products, dairy products, organic farm products, heritage assets, natural reserves etc.), along with an intelligent approach to transnational cooperation and information exchange through the uuse of digital tools, INTEGRURAL can create and distribute knowledge, and take rural communities out of seclusion. This, in its turn, can lead to a more integrated and sustainable development of these localities, far beyond simple "growth" exigencies of modern economies. This integrative approach can create meaningful linkages between economic activity, natural environment and cultural heritage, in order to blend innovatively past wisdom and local identity with state-of-the-art models for social economy and sustainability. In addition, energy-saving solutions and organic farming can lead to a more rational use of local resources and thus to greater selfsustainability of rural regions. All the above are of crucial importance for rural areas, which try to find their place in the national, European and global socioeconomic context, to train, sustain and enlarge the local workforce, and to develop capabilities that combine productively tradition and innovation. To this aim, transnational cooperation is the most important factor. European rurality is at the same time multifaceted and subject to many commonalities, stemming from comparable nation-state politics and from similar productive activities within their geographical area. This means that the challenges, which European rural localities have to face are to a large extent common and have to be addressed transnationally.
INTEGRURAL contributed to the development of local capacities towards cooperation, creativity, networking, and extroversion. Making use of the local potential (agricultural products, heritage assets, natural reserves etc.), along with an intelligent approach to transnational cooperation through the use of digital tools, INTEGRURAL created and distributed knowledge, and helped rural communities to be out of seclusion. This, in its turn, can lead to a more integrated development of these localities, far beyond simple "growth" exigencies of modern economies. All the above are of crucial importance for rural areas, which try to find their place in the national, European and global socioeconomic context, to train, sustain and enlarge the local workforce, and to develop capabilities that combine productively tradition and innovation. To this aim, transnational cooperation was an important factor. European rurality is at the same time multifaceted and subject to many commonalities, stemming from comparable politics and productive activities within their geographical area. This means that the challenges, which rural localities learned how to face, are to a large extent common and have to be addressed transnationally.
European rural areas have to promote the sustainability at local level. The project was aimed to the sustainable and integrative development in the field of agriculture, stockbreeding and local entrepreneurship on the one hand, and cultural heritage, digital tools, eco-friendly practices and local branding on the other. Integrural was the opportunity to introduce trought the training, the small rural producers and entrepreuners to the local and individual strategic planning. In addition, the exchange of experiences, achievements and good practices through the transnational cooperation, would helped them to bring ideas on local level about to how to overcome the handicaps of rural areas and to face the contemporary rural challenges in a integrative way of acting. This integrative approach can create meaningful linkages between economic activity, natural environment and cultural heritage, in order to blend innovatively past wisdom and local identity with state-of-the-art models for social economy and sustainability. In addition, energy-saving solutions and organic farming can lead to a more rational use of local resources and thus to greater self-sustainability of rural regions.