In early September 2026, the EU project "TERRAE – Digital Twins-Enabled Rural Resilience in Agriculture and forEstry" got underway. Over the next four years, the consortium will develop a so-called Rural Digital Twin (RDT): a digital replica of rural territories that integrates geographical, environmental, infrastructural, social and economic factors and visualises them in an immersive environment. The aim is to support actors in rural areas in defining, implementing and evaluating strategies for sustainable and resilient agriculture and forestry.
On 2 and 3 September 2026, the project partners met near Trento (Italy) for the kick-off meeting. The event focused on introducing the individual work packages, aligning the first steps of the work programme, and planning collaboration within the consortium. TERRAE is coordinated by Fondazione Bruno Kessler (Trento); the consortium comprises 16 partner organisations from Italy, Greece, Spain, Slovenia, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Poland and Germany. The project is funded under Horizon Europe (Cluster 6) with around EUR 6 million.
TERRAE directly involves five pilot regions in Italy, Greece, Spain, Slovenia and the United Kingdom, and will engage four further rural communities through an open call (FSTP). On this basis, so-called Multi-Actor Innovation Partnerships (MIPs) will be established, bringing together relevant local actors and involving them with the help of the Rural Digital Twin in the design and implementation of transformation processes in their territories.
Within the project, IfLS is responsible for the work package on the governance of innovation ecosystems in the pilot regions. The focus is on how collaboration between the different local actors – from agriculture and forestry to public administration and civil society groups – can be shaped so that innovation-enabling structures emerge in the pilot regions and remain viable in the long term.
Contact person at IfLS: Carla Wember (wember[at]ifls.de)
