On June 20th, our headquarters in Santiago de Compostela, at the heart of Campus Vida, will host the event “From Idea to Market: Boosting Rural Entrepreneurship through Innovation”. This event is part of the EU project InnovationGuide (funded by HE-European Innovation Ecosystems), involving four countries: Spain, the Netherlands, Turkey, and Malta.
The global objective: to foster innovation and entrepreneurship in rural areas, with a special focus on young talent and the role of women in the sectors of agriculture, bioeconomy, fisheries, and sustainable tourism. This will enable entrepreneurs, startups, and the entire Q-helix to share their experiences within the studied ecosystem in attracting funding, market positioning, existing barriers, and new opportunities to promote sustainable and inclusive economic growth in rural areas.
This will be one of four proposed events (one for each participating country) within this European project to advance in identifying barriers and opportunities for fostering entrepreneurship in rural ecosystems. The aim is to develop a homogeneous common framework to be conveyed as policies and transferability guides to other ecosystems.
The program of the event, which will be moderated from the perspective of analyzing the responses obtained from the previously launched questionnaire, aims to analyze the challenges and opportunities from the point of view of entrepreneurs, leading companies in the sector, researchers, and public institutions. It is divided into two parts. The first part, dedicated to analyzing barriers and identifying opportunities for promoting rural entrepreneurship in the four sectors analyzed, will feature speakers such as Tania Blanco, COO of Salmoira; José Cuadrado Oural, promoter of Terras da Mariña; Oscar Rodil Marzabal, professor and researcher of Economic Development and Innovation at the University of Santiago de Compostela; Lucía Afonso, beekeeper at Sovoral; Juan Carlos Pérez Rodríguez, CEO of Aldealista; Juan Picos, professor and researcher of Agroforestry Engineering at the University of Vigo; and Jacobo Garcia Durán, director of Turislab. In the second part of the event, invited experts will discuss the process of bringing an idea to market in rural areas. Higinio Mougán Bouzon, director of the Galician Association of Agro-Food Cooperatives; Beatriz Suárez Sánchez, director of rural development at Fundación Juana de Vega; Carmen Pumariño Álvarez from the Startup Galicia association, and Manuel Soliño, president of the Galician Association of Nautical Activities (AGAN+), will be some of the participants in the panel discussion.
Additionally, the event will feature an exhibition space with stands from rural companies and entrepreneurs, allowing them to showcase their work to the public during the coffee break, which will also serve as a networking opportunity for all attendees.
Registration is free until capacity is reached and is available at the following link.
