The RURBANIVE Plenary Meeting took place on 20–21 April 2026 in Valladolid, Spain, hosted by CARTIF and organised in collaboration with project coordinator Institute of Communication and Computer Systems (ICCS). Bringing together all project partners in person, the meeting served as an important milestone to assess progress and align the next steps of implementation.

The main objective of the plenary was to review ongoing work across the project, with a particular focus on co-creation activities, the development of Rural–Urban Enablers (RUEs), their integration into the Community Store, as well as capacity-building actions and policy-related developments within the Community of Practice Suite.

Day 1: Project progress and technical developments

The first day opened with updates from ICCS on project management, progress review and financial aspects, setting the stage for the discussions that followed.

Partners then presented key developments across the different work packages. The Agricultural University of Athens (AUA) introduced updates and the RUCL co-creation workshop plan, while CARTIF provided an overview of the RUE development roadmap. Research Institutes of Sweden (RISE) shared progress on the RUI and Innovation Framework, and Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (CZU) together with ICCS presented ongoing work on the Community Store and XR applications.

The agenda continued with a series of presentations from different Rural–Urban Co-creation Labs (RUCLs) and their corresponding RUEs, including:

These sessions were complemented by contributions from Partnerships for Rural Europe (PREPARE) and AUA on capacity-building activities and RUE interactions, from The Lisbon Council for Economic Competitiveness (LC) on the use of the Community of Practice Suite (CoPS), and from CZU on the integration of RUEs within the Community Store.

The day concluded with an open dialogue session, providing space for coordination and alignment across the consortium.

Day 2: Scaling, governance and next steps

The second day continued with presentations from additional RUCLs and RUEs, including CARTIF, e-Trikala and Innovation Campus Lemgo e.V. (ICL).

Innovation Campus Lemgo, again supported by discussions on capacity-building, CoPS utilisation and Community Store integration.

The European Association for Innovation in Local Development (AEIDL), and the Lisbon Council, addressed synergies, policies and governance, highlighting the importance of linking project outcomes with broader policy frameworks, followed by reframe.food (RFF), which presented the progress on impact maximisation and scale-up activities. 

The meeting concluded with closing remarks from ICCS, summarising key points and outlining the next steps for the consortium.

Strengthening collaboration through exchange

In parallel with the technical sessions, the plenary also provided opportunities for deeper exchange among partners. Notably, podcast recording sessions were organised, capturing insights and experiences from different partners and contributing to the project’s communication and dissemination activities.

The RURBANIVE Plenary Meeting in Valladolid marked an important step in consolidating the progress achieved so far. By bringing together technical developments, co-creation activities, and policy discussions, the meeting reinforced a shared direction for the next phase of the project.