STORCITO · Sustainable Transformation Of Rural Communities via Technical, social and Organizational innovations

The sustainability challenges faced by rural communities in the European Union (EU) are multi-faceted, and empowering these communities to address them is crucial to achieve climate neutrality by 2050, since one-third of the EU population resides in rural areas and these areas house critical ecosystems and natural resources. STORCITO is a 36-month project that will focus on fostering innovation in three key areas and major challenges of rural areas in Europe: (1) sustainable management of resources and wildfire prevention, (2) transition of citizens to sustainable energy systems and (3) achievement of an inclusive climate-neutral mobility. To enable successful customized innovations for each challenge, different rural ecosystems have been selected as representative scenarios in the four main pedo-climatic zones in Europe (Atlantic, Mediterranean, Continental and Boreal), matching selected rural communities with the biggest challenges in the area. By the end of the project, STORCITO will provide the following technical, social and organizational innovative solutions: (1) new tailor-made nature-based solutions (NBS) to avert wildfires, (2) new digital dashboard with updated fire indexes; (3) new on-demand climate-neutral mobility app for rural users; (4) new organizational support manual to enhance community-energy systems; (5) new CCUS informative app; (6) tailored training and educational materials for stakeholders and general public, (7) guidelines for reproducibility and (8) policy recommendations to local administrations and other relevant rural stakeholders. These innovations will be co-created with rural stakeholders to respond to their needs and examined for their feasibility and/or drawbacks in different biogeographical regions. STORCITO will create a holistic and sustainable framework for rural development to not only address immediate challenges but also foster long-term resilience.