Funding and support to boost the innovation and development of rural regions

Call for Services

This Open Call for Services has been closed on January 15th, 2023.

On this page:

Intro

Service providers searched in 4 European rural regions

dRural overall goal is to co-develop and implement a digital solution based on the exploitation of data from existing service platforms that deliver multiple innovative services to rural citizens while creating opportunities for economic growth and quality of life improvements. As such, the project aspires to become the service marketplace of reference for European rural areas. 

dRural service marketplace will be tested in four pilots in European rural regions

• Extremadura (Spain)

• Jämtland Härjedalen (Sweden)

• Dubrovnik-Neretva County (Croatia)

• Region Gelderland Midden (The Netherlands)

Services

Different types of services, different types of support

dRural calls for innovative services will focus on two types of services. Both will be offered through the marketplace.

Simple Services. Provided by small businesses and sole entrepreneurs, suppliers of services on the dRural marketplace. 5.000€ grant to set up and promote your service in the regional marketplace of your choice.

Complex Services. Building new services through the Core Meta Platform by integrating external data platforms (and thus expected from organizations with more resources to build them). 50.000€ grant to set up your service in the regional marketplace of your choice, and to exploit the potential of cross-sectoral service platforms for improving the quality of life in rural areas.

Arenas

Services from six key strategic arenas

Six strategic arenas have been identified for dRural, in which the regions’ platform strategies and services are being developed. The services awarded through the open calls must be aligned with those arenas: 

  1. Health and Social Care
  2. Tourism
  3. Local Food Systems
  4. Business Development
  5. Transport and Mobility
  6. e-Government

Keep reading to know all the benefits you may have from providing your digital service in rural areas.

Documents

Introducing the most useful documents for applicants

Please, read all the information carefully before applying.
Apply until January 15th, 2023 at 17.00 CET!


Applicants cannot be affiliated with the dRural consortium partners nor can they be employees of the dRural partners. All potential conflicts of interest will be assessed carefully. Please see more info here.

Questions?

All questions should be sent through the F6S community feed ONLY & that answers will be published at the following links:

Simple Services

Complex Services

Benefits simple services

Benefits for applicants in simple services

  • 5.000€ grant to set up and promote your service in the regional marketplace of your choice.
  • Digitalizing your service and reaching a bigger pool of potential customers.
  • Removing the physical barriers of time and place to allowing transactions to happen securely online and increase your turnover.
  • Contributing to service provision in rural areas, which will ultimately improve the quality of life of citizens by making the services more easily available to them.

Benefits complex services

Benefits for applicants in complex services

  • 50.000€ grant to set up your service in the regional marketplace of your choice, and to exploit the potential of cross-sectoral service platforms for improving the quality of life in rural areas.
  • Testing your innovative service in real-life conditions in one of the regions.
  • Gaining access to a bigger pool of potential customers.
  • Removing the physical barriers of time and place to allow transactions to happen securely online and increase your turnover.
  • Contributing to service provision in rural areas, which will ultimately improve the quality of life of citizens by making the services more easily available to them.

Closed calls

Simple service providers

Sole entrepreneurs, small business entities providing services in the local areas that have little to no technological infrastructure to extend the reach of their services to new potential clients (e.g. transportation, catering, hairdressers, etc).

Complex service providers

Existing data platform service providers (SMEs) that wish to become a part of the dRural ecosystem and want to develop and expose new innovative services through the dRural Metaplatform. These existing sectoral platforms must be able to be connected directly to the dRural solution via API or other technologies.

Become a dRural evaluator

We are looking for independent evaluators to assess dRural applications! Apply before 15/01/2023

 

Benefits for selected evaluators include

1) Get funded – 10 EUR per simple service application evaluated and 40 EUR per complex service application evaluated. A high number of applications is expected, so the financial compensation may be substantial (16 complex services and 80 simple services are expected to be awarded, which means even more applications).

2) Learn about innovative solutions that will be the main drivers of European regional development.

3) Connect with innovative SMEs, start-ups and entrepreneurs, as well as other experts who will be evaluating the applications.

4) Be an integral part of the dRural ecosystem, thus boosting regional development across Europe.

Learn more about who can become an evaluator and how to apply in the Call for evaluators

 

− Extremadura

Call for simple services in Extremadura

Sole entrepreneurs, and small business entities providing services in Extremadura’s rural areas that have little to no technological infrastructure, to extend the reach of their services (especially in the fields of Health and Social Care, tourism and business development).