
In 2021, the European Commission set out a Long-term Vision for the EU’s Rural Areas. The vision identifies several areas of action towards stronger, connected, resilient and prosperous rural areas by 2040. The vision recognises the role of innovation to help tackle challenges and reap opportunities for wellbeing and growth in rural areas and includes a specific flagship action on research and innovation for rural communities. The European Startup Village Forum is part of this flagship action.

The Forum intends to promote knowledge exchange and cooperation activities and to work as an open space where institutions and stakeholders can meet, discuss and shape action for startup-driven innovation in rural areas. Furthermore, it aims to collect the commitment of public and especially private organisations to support Startup Villages. To achieve this goal, a call for pledges has been launched. This call is open for pledges that can offer financial but also in-kind support, such as provision of co-working spaces, IT infrastructure or expertise, coaching, mentoring or training, aiming at creating startups and job opportunities.
The Startup Village Forum was launched at a virtual event on 16 November 2021. Bringing science-based and community-based knowledge and experiences together with high-level political traction, the launch offered insights on the different dimensions of rural innovation ecosystems and the challenges and potentials for startup creation and development in rural areas.
Upcoming events
The European Startup Village Forum
This 2023 edition of the Forum will discuss the main elements and enabling conditions of the Startup Village concept through a genuine science-for-policy interaction, supporting the identification and analysis of triggering factors for innovation and startup creation in rural areas.
Past events
16 Nov 2021: Launch Event
This launch event of the European Startup Village Forum is specifically aimed at gathering insights on challenges and potentials for rural innovation and rural innovators in a genuine science-for-policy and evidence-for-policy setting.
12 April 2022: Meet-Up of Commissioner Mariya Gabriel and Startup Villages
This one-hour virtual meeting followed the launch event of the Startup Village Forum in November 2021 and the first results of the call for pledges.
15 June 2022: The Rural Pact Conference
The Rural Pact conference will bring together EU, national, and regional politicians along with local authorities, social and economic stakeholders in a participatory event that reflects the rural vision’s ambition and bottom-up character
28-29 Sep 2022: European Research and Innovation Days 2022
European Research and Innovation Days is the European Commission’s annual flagship Research and Innovation event, bringing together policymakers, researchers, entrepreneurs and the public to debate and shape the future of research and innovation in Europe and beyond.
21-23 Oct 2022: Startup Village Hackathon
How rural areas can become a centre of attraction for startups? During this hackathon, participants will have to create a vision for selected rural or intermediate regions and choose one of the challenges of the AgriFood sector presented by industry companies from all over Europe. The event is organized under the patronage of Mariya Gabriel, European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth.
Pledges
During the 2021 launching event, Commissioner Gabriel opened a call for pledges that could offer financial but also in-kind support, such as provision of co-working spaces, IT infrastructure or expertise, coaching, mentoring or training, aiming at creating startups and job opportunities in rural areas. To this call, several companies committed themselves in supporting startup villages and more than 40 villages from all over the EU have sent proposals responding to the pledge.
Pledgers
DEVELOPMENT OF RURAL EUROPEAN INNOVATION AND STARTUP VILLAGES
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CONCEPT:
The objective is to analyse the state of innovation and entrepreneurship at rural areas at European level and also promote there innovation and entrepreneurship, based on a study about Startup Villages and The Long Term Vision, aligned with the concepts supported by the European Commission.
Note: Potential definition of startup village:
It is related to villages willing to execute activities helping themselves to become stronger, connected, resilient and prosperous areas and communities, having approximately a population equal or lower than 15.000 inhabitants.
Such actions should be orientated to create new opportunities to attract innovative businesses (startups, innovative SMEs, digital nomads, innovators, etc.), provide access to quality jobs, promote new and improved skills, ensure better infrastructure and services, and leverage the role of sustainable agriculture and diversified economic activities.
Such villages must have a coworking space as a tool to promote the above actions where relevant aspects related to innovation and entrepreneurship should be taken into account. These relevant aspects include, among others:
– The number of startups and entrepreneurs associated to the Startup Village.
– The innovation and entrepreneurship activities (eg. events, matchmaking, etc) carried out at it.
– Access to connectivity (fiber).
– The participation of the Startup Village and its entrepreneurs/startups taking part in events and other activities related to entrepreneurship and innovation.
– The number of activities organised by the Startup Village.
– Description of the coworking space (a photo and a description of the coworking space, etc.)
WHO IS ELEGIBLE:
To participate, each Startup Village should get registered and allow the project to use the information for this study and to be included and shown in the repository. This information will refer to:
Relevant aspects related to innovation and entrepreneurship:
– The prospects and problems of startups in European rural areas and in the Startup Villages which currently exist.
– The number of startups and entrepreneurs associated to each Startup Village.
– The innovation and entrepreneurship activities (eg. events, matchmaking, etc) carried out at them.
– Access to connectivity (fiber).
– The participation of the Startup Village and its entrepreneurs/startups taking part in events and other activities related to entrepreneurship and innovation.
– The number of activities organised by the Startup Villages.
– Description of the coworking space (a photo and a description of the coworking space etc.)
General aspect of the village:
– The number of inhabitants (maximum of 15.000 inhabitants approx.).
– A brief description of the village and its commercial/business/entrepreneurial activity.
– A photo of the village and the coworking space must be inserted, as well as a description of the latter.
DATES:
– Call for startup villages and Registration – NEW DEADLINE : 21st February ‘22.
– Winner announcement: end of February ‘22.
– Execution: Starting March ‘22 and ending November ‘22.
AWARDS:
(Major awards) Six awards of 20.000 € each (taxes included) + (Minor awards) Three awards of 10.000 € each (taxes included), consisting of covering the salary of 1 employee to run the coworking space of the startup village (to ensure the operavility of the coworking space and attract startups, digital nomads, etc.), during a period of at least 12 months. (Every 2 months the employee will have to send to the organisation a report of the improvement made). The award also covers at least 2 travelling cost to attend the launch event.
Ten awards of startup OLÉ ’22 package. Each package includes: Networking Platform / APP | Round Tables | Matchmaking | Pitch Competition | Virtual Fair / Stand | Global Visibility | Networking Cocktails (for 2 persons of each team) | And much more… As well as the above award, it also covers the traveling cost to attend the event in Salamanca, Spain.
INNOVATION AND SUSTAINABILITY AT STARTUP VILLAGES
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Geographical scope: Spain and Portugal.
BACKGROUND TO THE PLEDGE:
With a history of over 170 years, today Iberdrola is a global energy leader, the number-one producer of wind power and one of the world’s biggest electricity utilities by market capitalisation. The group supplies energy to almost 100 million people in dozens of countries, has more than 600,000 shareholders, a workforce comprising almost 39,000 employees and assets worth more than €123 billion.
The group is leading the transition towards a sustainable energy model and today is one of the companies with the lowest emissions and an international benchmark for its contribution to the fight against climate change and to sustainability. Additionally, Iberdrola was recognized by the European Commission as the most innovative Spanish utility and the third one at European level. In the short term, the utility will assign 330 million euros by 2022 for R&D activities,
reaching 400 million euros by 2025.
Iberdrola is strongly committed with rural areas as key stakeholders for the energy transition, with several initiatives and projects to promote innovation, entrepreneurship and the generation of local employment, to boost the economic activity of these regions and to decarbonize rural activities, for the consolidation of a zero emissions energy model.
CONCEPT
In this context, Iberdrola will focus on the objective to promote innovation, entrepreneurship and sustainability at rural areas in those geographies the group operates (for this call, specifically Spain and Portugal) throughout the identification of Startup Villages that could be eligible to become a Sustainable Startup Village.
Note:
Potential definition of start-up village: It is related to villages willing to execute activities
helping themselves to become stronger, connected, resilient and prosperous areas and communities, having approximately a population equal or lower than 15.000 inhabitants.
This initiative would be oriented to create new opportunities to attract businesses and job opportunities around reforestation and usage of land for sustainable activities that helps to improve biodiversity and reduce or capture CO2 emissions, via innovative solutions supporting the digitalization, monitoring and maintenance of these sites (e.g. reforestation sites).
Such Startup Villages must have a clear strategy and plan on the promotion of entrepreneurship, innovation and sustainability. It will be considered, among others:
– Planned initiatives such as events, coworking spaces or others with focus on creating
new business opportunities and talent attraction.
– The village’s strategy regarding rural and demographic challenges.
– The village’s plan regarding sustainability with special focus on renewable energy, demand electrification (mobility and heat) and decarbonization of other rural activities.
– Grants and public support for new businesses creation (i.e. start-ups) and talent attraction.
– Grants and public support regarding sustainable initiatives.
WHO IS ELIGIBLE
To participate, each Startup Village should get registered and allow the project to use the information for this scouting and to be included and shown in the repository. This information will refer to:
Relevant aspects related to innovation, entrepreneurship and sustainability:
– Number of start-ups and entrepreneurs associated to each Startup Village (if any).
– Innovation and entrepreneurship activities (e.g. Coworking spaces, events, matchmaking, etc) to be carry out.
– Number and brief description of activities developed by the Startup Villages before 2022.
– Strategy and plan regarding innovation and sustainability including grants and public support.
General aspect of the village:
– Number of inhabitants (maximum of 15.000 inhabitants approx.).
– A brief description of the village and its commercial/business/entrepreneurial activity.
– Content showing innovation, entrepreneurial and sustainable initiatives (e.g. pictures, videos, news, etc.)
– Availability of recent reforestation land or land to be reforested (preferably owned by the town council), including land characteristics (dimensions, location, etc.)
DATES
– Open call for start-up villages registration: January 1st – end of March ‘22
– Winner announcement: end of March ‘22
– Execution period: April ’22 – December ‘22
PRIZE:
The prize will consist on a collaboration with IBERDROLA which will support the cost of land reforestation and implementation of innovative solutions for the digitalization, monitoring and maintenance of the reforestation site, for up to 5 awarded proposals (depending on the quality of applicants). This could include:
– Land reforestation (if needed).
– Implementation of innovative solutions for the digitalization, monitoring and maintenance of the reforested site.
– Identification as “Sustainable Startup Village” and promotion of the initiatives on social media and public events.
– Guidance and support on other sustainable initiatives such as renewable energy, mobility or heat electrification.
Additionally, the village will be awarded with a Startup OLÉ ’22 package. Each package includes: Networking Platform / APP | Round Tables | Matchmaking | Pitch Competition | Virtual Fair / Stand | Global Visibility | Networking Cocktails (for 2 persons of each team) | And much more…

EUROPEAN STARTUP VILLAGE - ATTRACTING REMOTE WORKERS AND JOB CREATION INITIATIVE
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CONCEPT:
The objective of this pledge is to support European Startup Villages in becoming the ultimate “Live-Work Destinations” by making a mark on the global map and eventually attracting remote workers, inward investment, and top-sought skills in this new world of work and opportunity.
The Startup Village Award and Discounted Pledge will promote regional rebalancing, encourage attraction and retention of skills, and help rural areas reach their full potential whilst also aligning with the bigger mission supported by the European Commission.
Note: Potential definition of «startup village»
It is related to villages willing to execute activities helping themselves to become stronger, connected, resilient, and prosperous areas and communities, having approximately a population equal to or lower than 15,000 inhabitants.
SOLUTION:
The Startup Village Platform, developed by Abodoo, is a visual and interactive citizen map of your startup village containing all of the key information and insights about the region’s assets that are needed to attract remote workers and support rural regeneration. This is an incredible opportunity for villages to showcase themselves as a live-work destination.
For every worker that relocates to the startup village, there is an economic impact of 2.5 service jobs created, leading to economic prosperity with limited investment.
START UP VILLAGE PLATFORM – THE THREE-FOLD METHODOLOGY
The StartUp Village Pledge includes four key elements to support your Village in driving inwards people and company investment.
1. The “Live and Work in…” Promotional Landing Page
We create a “Live and Work Promotional Landing Page” for each village, highlighting the key reasons why it is a wonderful place to locate.
This landing page is the first engagement point with potential new resident remote workers that are realising they can work from anywhere.

This landing page can be hosted by the village or by Abodoo, and its purpose is to entice the reader to enter their name and email address to access information about the startup village.
2. The StartUp Village Platform: An interactive visualisation of the region’s
key assets

The user can then access a dynamic dashboard from anywhere at any time. The map is interactive and enables the user to have all the information in one centralised location.
- The number of startups and entrepreneurs associated with each Startup Village
- Housing (Average Prices)
- Schooling (Number and Capacity of each school, higher education institutes)
- Childcare/Creche Facilities
- Transport Connectivity to nearby locations and main cities
- Co-working locations (number and capacity of each co-working space)
- Connectivity (3-5 G/ Fiber)
- Estimated Living Expenses
- Population Demographics (Census)
- Local Attractions (Tourism Data)
- Data on other key social infrastructures.
*Data observations are dependent on what is available from the village and public online information.
3. An inclusive register and discovery process for interested remote workers
and global businesses

The users who are visiting the landing page and are intrigued by the asset map of the startup village are then invited to register their interest, which captures the following information for the startup village.
- Contact Telephone and Email Address
- Current Location (Are they already residents or not? If not, what’s their current location)
- Do they want to relocate?
- Are they currently working or not?
- What is their job/experience type? (Remote/On-site/etc.).
- What is their job/experience industry?
- What are their job/experience skills?
- What are their estimated earnings?
- Dependents and their respective ages?
- Do they currently own a home or rent a place?
- Do they plan to buy a home or rent a place in the startup village?
This information can be accessed by the StartUp Village in real-time.
AWARD AND DISCOUNT OFFER
One award valued at €24,000 was awarded on April 4th, to Berzosa del Lozoya. This winning startup village was assessed by a judging panel.
The first 22 Startup Villages that sign up before October 31st, 2022, will receive a 65% discount. The standard monthly subscription for the Startup Village Platform is 2000 euros. The applied discount of 65% brings the total investment down to 700 euros per month on an annual licence.
Each startup village will get:
– The creation of a landing page to promote the StartUp Village.
– An interactive map to showcase the StartUp Village.
– The registration process is to capture interested remote workers and digital nomads.
WHO IS ELIGIBLE:
To participate, each Startup Village should have the ambition of wanting to attract remote workers, families, entrepreneurs, and inward investment through jobs, and global companies.
The key criteria to be eligible for this initiative include:
- The number of inhabitants (a maximum of 15.000 inhabitants approximately)
- Access to internet connectivity and fibre connectivity
- A vision for job creation, advancing social infrastructure, and repopulation to support future
investment strategy, reskilling, and funding applications. - The Startup Village should also be part or have applied to become part of the EU Startup Village
Forum.
IMPORTANT DATES:
Discount Registration is from February 10th, 2022 to October 31st, 2022.
ONBOARDING:
On registration, we will arrange a meeting to discuss your StartUp Village needs and ambitions. Any Startup Villages who enter their details will automatically be entitled to the discount offer on a first-come, first-served basis till October 31st, 2022.
Once a region is onboarded, the following details need to be shared by the rural region with Abodoo:
To set the context, the following data points need to be shared:
- A summary of the village’s commercial/business/entrepreneurial activity and social infrastructure
- The existing vision for job creation and repopulation
- Recent photos or video graphics from the region
- The description of the coworking space (a photo, the description of the coworking space, etc.)
REGISTER NOW:

DESCRIPTION:
To ensure that rural areas can continue to play the essential roles they currently do, the long-term vision for the EU’s rural areas up to 2040 has been set up. In this framework, the European Startup Village Forum, through its “pledges”, aims to support innovation, sustainability at the European level, to generate a positive impact in many ways.
The following pledge proposes Hontoria, a small town in the central area of Spain, as an ideal Startup Village to deploy the first PEM electrolyser factory in the country. Enagás, as the main gas TSO in Spain and with presence in 7 other countries, in its firm conviction to become a carrier of renewable gases, is the initial promoter that bets in 2020 for the constitution and acceleration of H2Greem, the first Spanish company that designs, manufactures and commercializes electrolyzers for the production of green H2 (owned technology).
The company has made so far an investment in the startup of around 300.000€ and with the forecast of new investments of Enagás and other investors around 1-1,5 MM€ in the short therm, H2Greem projects the leap from the laboratory to industrialization, for which the location of the town of Hontoria, strategically located in the central region of the country, is proposed.
Nowadays, the Company already carry out their activities from this small village located in the region of Castilla y León, in the province of Segovia, where less than 500 inhabitants are living today. Following the startup’s values, interests and willing to contribute to one of the EU’s objectives regarding geographical democracy, Hontoria is as well the location chosen by Enagás to locate H2Greem. From there, H2Greem will lead the manufacture of green hydrogen electrolyzers, and where the next stage of business development will be built.
The increasing global interest in the hydrogen sector is clearly reflected in the growth of the company, so H2Greem plans to scale up from the laboratory to the industrialization of its process, aiming to respond to this demand. The target market for H2Greem goes from the industrial range to high production for supply in gas networks. All of this being framed in a country that hosts more than half of the European production capacity planned for this type of technology.
In addition, the initiative aims to contribute to mitigating one of the country’s major current problems, the massive concentration of the population in very specific points of the territory, which implies a further general issue regarding the lack of resources and opportunities of the so called «empty Spain», where the rural exodus has affected progress and development, harming these areas and limiting their growth. Hontoria would be a witness and active party in the construction project of this factory, which is estimated to last 2 years and has a total budget of 0.4-0.6M€.
In addition, H2Greem’s sales plan includes the sale of electrolysers in 2022 for a value of more than 680,000 € and the already mentioned imminent entry of new investors in its shareholding will give even more value to the startup. In this favourable stage of H2GReem’s development, to continue hosting the activity of the Company would mean for Hontoria a powerful trigger for the attraction of new projects to the area. This doesn’t only mean a great opportunity offered to the talent of the area, but also the ability to generate and attract qualified quality employment (including specialized jobs) linked to the activity, and therefore income that will directly and positively impact the economy of the region. At this moment, H2Greem already has 6 workers, all of them highly qualified, working from Hontoria.
In addition to the dynamizing effect on the service sector that the factory will have imminently, it is very likely that suppliers, both generic and technology, will be able to locate or frequently visit H2Greem’s facilities. The boost that can be given to H2Greem by this project is strengthened by contributing jointly to two important common objectives: promoting the production of green hydrogen in Spain and attracting industrial activity, talent and employment to rural areas with a lot of potential for development and much to contribute to the energy landscape.
Hontoria would therefore become the Spanish town where the first factory of hydrogen producing equipment is located, playing an strategic role in the long-awaited decarbonization of energy.
Awarded startup villages
Slovenia
Co-working hub RISE
Bulgaria
Burgas Municipality
Ireland
RDI hub
Croatia
Development agency Heart of Istria
Portugal
Startup Madeira Digital Nomads Madeira Islands
Spain
Somiedo.eco - Living Lab by Aeers
Spain
H2Green
Denmark
Surf & Work - Silicon VØ
Greece
Tzoumakers
Austria
START.N - New Work Kitzbühel
Spain
Abodoo
Full list of projects
Successful startup ecosystems are embedded in networks of founders and partners. Partners such as investors, accelerators, universities, companies, and public administrations.
Therefore, we need the support of all the stakeholders present here with us, in this important launch event of the Startup Village Forum.
And I would like to invite public and private organisations: from corporates to startups and foundations, to ‘pledge’ your support to the Startup Village initiative.
We have opened a section in the web site of this Forum where you can indicate the support you can provide. Your pledges can be financial but also in-kind, such as provision of co-working spaces, IT infrastructure or know-how, such as coaching or training.
I see this call for pledges as a main channel to gather commitment from public and especially from private organisations for Startup Villages. They will be important to build a real long-term vision for rural areas, anchored in the territories.

A recent European Commission communication adopted on 30 June 2021 sets out a long-term vision for the EU’s rural areas up to 2040. It identifies areas of action towards stronger, connected, resilient and prosperous rural areas and communities. A Rural Pact will mobilise public authorities, and stakeholders to act on the needs and aspirations of rural residents. The accompanying EU Rural Action Plan will foster territorial cohesion and create new opportunities to attract innovative businesses, provide access to quality jobs, promote new and improved skills, ensure better infrastructure and services, and leverage the role of sustainable agriculture and diversified economic activities.
About
The EU’s rural areas are a core component of the European way of life. They are home to around 140 million people, representing around 30% of the EU’s population and over 80% of the EU’s territory.
Yet, over the last decades, social and economic changes such as globalisation and urbanisation have affected rural areas, leading in some areas to population decline and ageing. The COVID-19 pandemic with its asymmetrical impact on European territories has added uncertainty to vulnerability while opening new promising perspectives. Many Europeans are worried about the erosion of rural infrastructure and service provision, including access to healthcare, social services and education as well as to postal and banking services. Others express concerns about shrinking employment opportunities and possible drop in income in rural areas or limited transport and digital connectivity that limits access to markets.
However, in this looming context, rural areas can turn vulnerabilities into opportunities. For instance, numerous talented professionals are moving towards rural areas, attracted to their better quality of life and access to green spaces – and talent attraction and retention can be seen a key building block of flourishing rural innovation ecosystems.
The long—term vision for rural areas recognizes the key enabling role innovation can play to empower citizens and businesses to seize these opportunities. It also recognizes that rural innovation is currently under-valued and that innovation ecosystems need to be improved.
In order to tackle the challenges and reap the opportunities for wellbeing and growth related to innovation in rural areas, the long-term vision has put in place a flagship action on research and innovation for rural communities. The flagship action includes support for the development of innovations by and for rural communities as well as enhancing training opportunities and fostering knowledge exchange and cooperation among rural innovators.
This knowledge exchange and cooperation currently takes place within “Rural networks” (soon to become the CAP networks) including the European innovation partnership on agriculture productivity and sustainability (EIP-AGRI) and the European network for rural development (ENRD), actions conducted in the context of the EU action on smart villages, and the thematic smart specialisation partnerships on agri-food.
The annual Startup Village Forum is part of the implementation of this flagship action. Its first edition will take place in 2022. It will complement the knowledge exchange and cooperation activities by focusing on the needs of startups and entrepreneurs that may not be covered to their full potential, especially in sectors outside of farming, forestry and related value chains. To this end, the forum aims at: (i) supporting the further development of rural innovation ecosystems; (ii) identifying and analysing triggering factors for innovation in rural areas; and (iii) connecting rural innovation actors across the EU with a focus on start-ups. It is intended to work as an open space where institutions and stakeholders can meet, discuss and shape action for start-up-driven innovation in rural areas.
Today’s launch of the Start-up Village Forum is a new beginning for rural areas. It is a reflection of the importance that the Commission attaches to supporting rural areas, because it is in rural areas that the demographic transition is most visible. Through the Start-up Village Forum we want the best and brightest of Europe to remain in these and contribute to building prosperity as they grow their start-up companies to real long term drivers of our economy, all while using the natural potential of Europe’s rural areas.

Today, rural areas offer a wealth of opportunities to seize, as laid out in the long-term vision for rural areas. Fostering rural innovation should largely contribute to the green and digital transition, benefiting our rural communities, our farmers and society as a whole. The Start-up Village Forum plays an important role, by connecting start-ups, rural actors and public authorities to share knowledge and experiences. I look forward to this year’s discussions and upcoming editions.

Contact us
- Naam
- The Startup Village Forum team
- Organisatie
- Joint Research Centre (JRC)
- Website
- https://joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu