Mobilise call to leverage AI for Community-driven Innovation

Deadline: 31-Mar-25

The European Commission is seeking applications to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) for community-driven innovation focused on enhancing rural-urban interactions.

Projects funded under this call are expected to organise local/regional hackathons/datahons/ideathons and through this promote PoliRuralPlus and other solutions and support their validation, extension and/or implementation in the PoliRuralPlus pilot regions.

Specific Objectives per Pilot Area 

• In line with the overarching objectives of the PoliRuralPlus project, nine distinct pilot areas have been identified to validate methodologies, enhance tools, and unearth practical policy innovations. These pilots serve as crucial testing grounds, where the project’s outcomes can be applied and refined to address diverse regional challenges and opportunities.
  • Pilot 1, situated in Ireland’s Monaghan County, aims to foster a vibrant, integrated, and sustainable rural-urban community supported by a circular and green economy by 2040. Reflecting the Irish Pilot’s commitment to sustainability, the roadmap has updated its research focus to “Advancing the Circular Economy in County Monaghan: Exploring Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Environmental Products and Services.” Specific objectives to be addressed:
    • Uncover pathways for sustainable enterprise development in the circular economy
    • Identifying emerging sectors and innovative practices in the circular economy.
    • Highlight opportunities for growth in the circular economic sector with focus on innovation and entrepreneurship.
    • Full integration of social enterprises advancing inclusive, community-driven circular growth.
    • Enhanced quality of life, with Monaghan serving as a model for balanced and regenerative rural-urban collaboration.
  • Slovakia’s pilot (Pilot 2), covering the entire country, focuses on envisioning more attractive and resilient rural areas, striving to revitalise Slovak rural regions through inclusive stakeholder engagement, strengthening political leadership, and enhanced capacity-building efforts. This pilot serves as a comprehensive platform for collaborative policy design through transparent consultations and participatory decision-making processes, essential for shaping impactful policies. Specific objectives to be addressed:
    • Developing a sharedVision to make rural areas a desirable place to live, work, visit and invest by addressing the needs and aspirations of local communities.
    • Revitalization of Slovak rural areas by implementing sustainable development initiatives that promote economic diversification, environmental stewardship and social well-being in rural areas.
    • Strengthening stakeholder engagement and capacity building by empowering local stakeholders to co-create actionable solutions that address rural challenges.
    •  Facilitating Inclusive consultations and decision-making processes ensuring that diverse voices are heard through participatory foresight exercises, fostering policies that reflect the collective needs of rural communities.
  • Pilot 3, located in the region of Central Greece, is geared towards providing training in sustainable agritech technologies and promotional services for agritourism. By enhancing digital skills and promoting local agricultural products, this pilot aims to stimulate economic diversification and capitalise on the region’s natural resources. Specific objectives to be addressed:
    • Training for sustainable agritech technologies
    • Promotional services for agritourism
    • Increase in digital skills among AKIS actors
    • Diversification of agritourism opportunities and promotion of local agricultural products
  • Italian pilot (Pilot 4), situated in Apulia, emphasises the promotion of short food supply chains (SFSC) to strengthen connections between rural and urban areas. By promoting healthy diets and lifestyles, this initiative aims to foster synergies and collaborative models betweens urban dwellers and rural communities. Specific objectives to be addressed:
    • Support measures for the establishment of short food supply chains
    • Promotion of healthy diets and lifestyles
    • Creation of direct linkages between rural and urban citizens
    • Enhance awareness about the quality and accessibility of local food products
  • Pilot 5 in Finland, situated in the Mallusjoki rural district, aims to build a Rural Event Industry Ecosystem, fostering community engagement, public-private partnership, and economic opportunities through rural events. By enhancing and leveraging the region’s natural- and human assets, innovativeness and creative sector, this pilot seeks to attract visitors from urban areas and stimulate community driven rural development. Specific objectives to be addressed:
    • Building the Rural Event Industry Ecosystem
    • Community engagement and collaboration for wellbeing
    • Economic opportunities through rural events
    • Renew the community premises to Green Culture Centre in line with New European Bauhaus policy
    • Attraction of urban visitors to rural areas
  • Pilot 6, the Bavaria-Czechia rural innovation network, defined by the Bohemian Forest (Šumava and Bayerischer Wald) and surrounding areas, aims to enhance connectivity, innovation, and social capital across rural and urban areas. By establishing incubators and fostering cultural connections, this pilot strives to create a conducive environment for rural startups and strengthen territorial identity. Specific objectives to be addressed:
    • Establishment of the Bavaria-Czechia Rural Innovation Network
    • Improvement of connections and strategies for synergistic development
    • Enhancement of business and innovation opportunities
    • Strengthening of social connectivity and territorial identity
    • Support local farming practices and food supply chains in order to meet sustainability targets
  • Spanish pilot (Pilot 7), situated in Segobriga and region of Sierray Mancha Conquense, centres on rural-urban synergies and cultural heritage, leveraging the Segobriga Archaeological Park as a focal point for community collaboration and economic development. This initiative aims to attract visitors, foster local entrepreneurship, and bridge the gap between rural and urban areas. Specific objectives to be addressed:
    • Promotion of rural-urban synergies and cultural heritage
    • Utilisation of interconnected sites engaging public private stakeholders supported by ADESIMAN as Local Action Group
    • Economic development through community collaboration
    • Bridging the gap between rural and urban areas
  • Pilot 8 in Latvia’s Vidzeme Planning Region is a public regional development institution. Its mission is to coordinate and promote long-term and well-balanced development of the region, which is guided by the VPR Development Programme (DP). So far there are no systematic mechanisms to monitor progress of VPR DP on a territorial level, and so far, it is monitored only on an organization level. It is very important that each goal and planned activities of a VPR DP responds directly to needs of inhabitants and where possible actively involve them into the action. Therefore, a transparent, reliable system for collecting, aggregating and communicating regional development progress to the public is a necessity. The establishment of a unified monitoring framework in the Vidzeme planning region as a territory is very important in order to ensure a successful development management process and feedback to each of the parties involved in the implementation of the VPR Development Programme, thus also promoting the interest and involvement of each resident of the region in the development of their place, region and Vidzeme region as a whole. Specific objectives to be addressed:
    • Together with relevant stakeholders prototyping the systematic mechanism and potentially applicable ICT solutions for the monitoring of the development initiatives aligned with the Development Programme of the Vidzeme Planning Region as a territory.
    • Uniting and mobilizing stakeholders to take ownership towards implementing and identifying regional development initiatives that are aligned with the Development Programme of the Vidzeme Planning Region.
  • Pilot 9 in Malta targets digital transformation and entrepreneurial capacity building in rural areas, aiming to level up agricultural sectors through digitization and youth empowerment. By fostering collaboration between rural and urban stakeholders, this pilot endeavours to bridge societal divides and promote circularity. Specific objectives to be addressed:
    • Digital transformation and entrepreneurial capacity building in rural areas
    • Levelling up of agricultural sectors through digitization
    • Empowerment of youth and promotion of circularity
    • Bridging societal divides between rural and urban areas

Funding Information

• Budget: €10,000 lump sum per project.
• Total projects funded: 9

Expected Results 

• Organisation of a hackathon/datahon/ideathon in the selected PoliRuralPlus pilot region, showcasing the impact of AI/DL tools on rural-urban dynamics.
• Mobilising local stakeholders, IT experts, and regional advisors, leveraging AI/DL tools to illuminate their potential in transforming rural-urban interactions, and fostering community-driven innovations.
• Active engagement of local stakeholders, leading to the creation of prototypes and solutions that integrate PoliRuralPlus technologies with local insights.
• Encouraging community-driven initiatives to address specific challenges of the pilot region.
• Validate existing solutions developed by PoliRuralPlus or elsewhere, suggest improvements or new functionalities.

Eligibility Criteria 

• In order to ensure the integrity and impact of the PoliRuralPlus project, applicants must meet the following criteria:
  • Type of organisation: Any type of organisation can apply for the Mobilise call funding as long as they have the operational and financial capacity to carry out the tasks that they propose.
  • Single applicants: Only single organisations are eligible to apply. Consortia or joint submissions are not permitted for this call.
  • Eligible countries: Applicants must be legally established in an EU Member State or an Associated Country as outlined by the Horizon Europe rules.
  • Third parties: The proposal should not include any subcontracting or transfer of financial contribution to third parties.
  • One proposal per applicant: Only one proposal will be accepted for funding per applicant. In the case of multiple submissions, only the last one received (timestamp of the system) will enter into the evaluation process, the rest being declared as non-eligible.
  • Declaration of honour: Applicants must declare their eligibility and no conflict of interest in the online application.
  • Pilot specific proposals: The proposal must address specific objectives identified within one of the 9 designated pilot regions of the PoliRuralPlus project.
  • Language: English is the official language for PoliRuralPlus open calls. Submissions and deliverables done in any other language will not be evaluated. Any supporting documents requested at the time of proposal submission must also be in English, except the document proving the legal status of the organisation.
  • GDPR compliance: Any project involving personal data must adhere to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to ensure data privacy and protection.
  • Non-beneficiary clause: PoliRuralPlus beneficiaries and their affiliated entities are ineligible to apply.

For more information, visit EC.