RURBANIVE Project | Official Kick Off: Bridging the gap of Social and Technological Innovation between Rural-Urban areas

February 21, 2024

On February 15 and 16, 2024, the I-SENSE Group of ICCS hosted the physical kick off meeting of RURBANIVE, a new European research project that aims to enhance rural-urban communities with immersive social and technological innovation.

The project involves 17 partners from 8 different countries who share the same vision. Georgios Tsimiklis from ICCS opened the meeting by highlighting the significance and impact of such initiatives on both social and technological levels, as well as RURBANIVE’s objectives and concept. Dr. Kostas Naskou, Day-to-Day Project Manager of RURBANIVE, followed by outlining the project’s organization, risks, management tools, communication channels, and upcoming deliverables. He also introduced Task 4.1, which focuses on the Digital Platform for Rural-Urban synergies and the Community Store. Kostas Koukoudis XR developer from ICCS, continued by presenting the plan for the design and development of Rural-Urban immenseness. Marilena Xarcha, Team Leader of Project Administration, explained the project’s financial aspects and the expectations of the European Union. Finally, Alexandros Liazos from ICCS presented Task 3.1, which deals with Enhanced Mobility aspects and explained how they will be implemented in RURBANIVE project.

I-SENSE Group of ICCS coordinates the project and participates in all Work Packages leading the design and development of eXtended Reality applications which will be utilised by all 7 co-Creation Labs where end-users get access to immersive campaigns, with digital assets and storylines, to better understand the function of the RURBANIVE Enablers and the outcomes of the proposed policies and business models.

During the physical kick-off meeting Work Package and Task leaders from the Agricultural University of Athens (AUA), FUNDACION CARTIF (CARTIF), Research Institutes Of Sweden (RISE), FOODSCALE HUB, European Association for Innovation in Local Development (AEIDL), Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (CZU), Alchemia-nova research and innovation, AgriFood Lithuania (AFL), IMERYS, Lisbon Council For Economic Competitiveness (LC), e-Trikala, Kedainiu Rajono Aavivaldybes Administracija, Region of South Aegean, Innovation Campus Lemgo (ICL), PREPARE – Partnership for Rural Europe and BioBASE presented their involvement in the project and the planning of the relevant tasks.