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DINAMIC DANUBE Developing INnovative Alliances for Management, Innovation, and Collaboration in European BioEconomy

LaufzeitApril/2025 - März/2028
Projektleitung
  • Kathrin Stainer-Hämmerle
  • Projektmitarbeiter*innen
  • Klaus Friedrich
  • Sandra Kleewein
  • ForschungsschwerpunktBildungsforschung
    Studiengänge
  • FH Kärnten Research
  • Wirtschaft
  • ForschungsprogrammInterreg Danube Region
    Förderinstitution/Auftraggeber
  • Interreg Danube Region
  • The DINAMIC DANUBE project represents a strategic partnership of 13 organizations, combining academic expertise and business support capabilities to jointly address the complex socio-economic challenges facing rural areas in the Danube Region. The primary focus is on mitigating the depopulation trend that threatens the region's economic backbone – small family farms, which are the main target group of this proposal- by strenghtening their capacities through lifelong learning, mentorship and technology introduction. The contemporary challenges confronting small family farms, particularly in the Southeast Danube Region, underscore the pressing need for targeted interventions to strenghten their sustainability, competitiveness, and resilience. Key obstacles such as skilled workforce migration, an aging population, lack of modern technological adoption, and weak business support ecosystems pose significant barriers that DINAMIC DANUBE aims to overcome. The project will implement a holistic approach combining education, technological integration, and capacity-building initiatives, with a special emphasis on empowering female farmers. This methodology not only strengthens local economies but also contributes to the overall sustainable development of the region. DINAMIC DANUBE will directly engage 500 small family farms from the Danube area, providing them with lifelong learning opportunities, peer mentorship programs, and facilitating the implementation of innovative technologies in underdeveloped and marginalized areas. Moreover, the project will establish a strong Danube-wide network in the bioeconomy and precision farming sectors, comprising key stakeholders who will serve as stewards for disseminating project results to other business support institutions, thereby reaching a broader base of family farms within the program area. The project findings will be proposed as policy recommendations to national-level institutions, enabling them to witness the tangible outcomes of the implemented solutions. Furthermore, the consortium plans to sustain its efforts by following up on the developed joint study and action plan, paving the way for future initiatives over the next four years. With a specific objective (SO1) Capacity Building and Skills Upscaling project directly contributes with new curriculum and on the field training brings the skills and knowledge of small family farmers to a higher level. This will not only support acquired knowledge implementation but support their production and distribution on long term, reaching several programme outputs such as facilitating the work and cooperation of the organizations across borders (3.2.4), creation of joint strategies and actions plans (3.2.2), jointly developed solutions (3.2.1) and finally participation in joint actions promoting gender equality, equal opportunities and social inclusion (3.2.5). In the second specific objective (SO2) Fostering innovation and partnering; with a number of partners from different countries the project introduced economically affordable, easy-to-use technology and digital skills to small family farmers farmers. This will create a new era of farming in Southeast European countries, bringing prosperity with technology, efficiency in production and supporting biodiversity and bioeconomy. Learning from more developed neighbouring countries such as Austria and Germany, will develop relevant curriculum and gain knowledge from established seasoned farmers who are already practicing precision farming and bioeconomy.  Merging all these new innovations for small family farms in Southeast Europe will open dialogue to tackle large structural issues such as migrations, boosting agricultural economy and diversity preservation. Within this SO, the DINAMIC DANUBE is again contributing to programme outputs in particularly jointly developed solutions and pilot actions (3.2.3). The key specific objective (SO3) improves the collaboration and networking between all stakeholders, and it involves activities such as study visits, benchmarking events, creating dialogue delivering changes in existing policies with the aim of improving the educational frameworks of the countries, again fostering cooperation of organizations across borders (3.2.4 output). Finally, DINAMIC DANUBE actively advocates for policy reforms aimed at refining existing frameworks and regulations, with a specific focus on improving educational systems across the participating countries. By fostering a culture of cooperation and continuous improvement, the project improves to the collective capacity of stakeholders to address challenges and seize opportunities for sustainable agricultural development within the Danube region producing 3 main results: Joint strategies and action plans taken up by organization, organizations with increased institutional capacities due to their participation in cooperation activities across the borders and finally solutions taken up by organizations.