A social project and a project by an association receive the first grants from the UVic-UCC Chair for the Rural World

The Chair for the Rural World of the University of Vic - Central University of Catalonia (UVic-UCC), awarded its first Rural Innovation Grants today. These Grants replaced the Chair's previous annual awards. The grants, which are awarded every two years, will fund two rural innovation projects, which will receive 14,000 Euros each. According to the Chair's conditions, one of them had to be in Catalonia, and the other in the Lluçanès region. The winning projects were chosen from a total of twenty candidates for Catalonia, and three for the Lluçanès region.

The presentation ceremony took place in the Segimon Serrallonga Hall at UVic-UCC at 11 am, and was attended by the recipients of the grants, members of the Chair, and an audience committed to innovation in rural areas. In addition to receiving funds, the grant recipients will receive academic support from the Chair and a specialist at Creacció, the Catalan Agency for Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Knowledge. The projects, which will become a forum for knowledge and dissemination, will also be monitored by the Chair monitor for two years.

According to Laura Domingo, the director of the Chair since 2023, these grants are a response to "the desire to support people working for the rural world, based on commitment, responsibility and respect." She also pointed out that "the research and monitoring the projects will enable us to carry out initiatives that can be replicated elsewhere, in order to foster the comprehensive and sustainable development of rural areas in Catalonia." 

"FUET": a social project for the Lluçanès

Three projects were presented in the Lluçanès category, and the candidate selected was "FUET: social integration in Lluçanès", a family project which is being led by Aleix Olegario. This project is focused on the social integration of people with functional diversity in the Lluçanès area, and it involves the creation of a Special Employment Centre (CET). The project is taking place at Cal Toni, in the village of La Torre d’Oristà, which was a well-known business in the region for more than fifty years. It closed in 2020 when the owner retired, and it consisted of a grocery, a butcher's and also produced traditionally made cold cuts, while also acting as the village's bar and restaurant. The shop has reopened, and the workshop is being built in order to maintain the philosophy of serving the inhabitants of the village. The company's organisation chart is divided into three areas: commercial, production and administration. It will involve people with functional diversity who will work in all three areas, supported by artificial intelligence (AI).
According to the Jury, the innovative feature of the "FUET: social integration in Lluçanès" project is its social integration of people with functional diversity in the rural world, and its idea of reopening the only establishment serving food in the village. 

A collaborative project for social and regional regeneration

For Catalonia as whole, the winning project was the "Vall del Corb Agricultural-Livestock Farming Test", which has launched an agricultural and livestock farming test area as a place where people with no previous links to agriculture can try farming before joining the industry, while receiving multidisciplinary support. This project is taking place in Sant Martí de Riucorb, and aims to attract young livestock farmers in the Vall del Corb region. The project will be linked to other extensive and semi-extensive livestock farming in the area.

It is part of the Territori de Vincles (Regional Ties) regeneration project undertaken by the Vall del Corb Development Association, which seeks to create new opportunities to address the challenges of depopulation and climate change in a heavily depopulated rural area.

One of the reasons why the Vall del Corb project received the grant in the Catalonia category was because it is taking place within the framework of a larger project, undertaken by an association which aims to develop a heavily depopulated rural area, and also because it involves many institutions in the surrounding area.

A jury of experts in rural affairs

The projects submitted were assessed by a jury consisting of nine members, belonging to all the institutions and organisations that make up the Chair for the Rural World at UVic-UCC: two representatives of the Chair for the Rural World (a director and a person providing support), a representative of the Nature Conservation Network, a representative of the Prats de Lluçanès municipal council, a representative of Creacció (the Catalan Agency for Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Knowledge), a representative of the Lluçanès Consortium, a representative of the Waste Agency of Catalonia, and a representative of the Catalan Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food.

The first Rural Innovation Grants awarded by the Chair for the Rural World were organised by the Chair with the support of the Waste Agency of Catalonia, the Catalan Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food, and the Prats del Lluçanès municipal council. The Chair's primary objective is to contribute to the overall sustainable development of rural areas in Catalonia, and to the dissemination of knowledge in this area.