Dear reader,

Welcome back to the SMART ERA newsletter.

In this edition, we explore how smart rural development is taking shape across our pilot regions, from the Devetaki Plateau to the key discussions held at the Sofia stakeholder conference. You will find insights from our partners, practical examples of challenges and solutions, and updates on upcoming events.

Read on to stay connected as we work towards making rural areas more resilient, inclusive and future-ready.

The SMART ERA team

We explored another one of our pilots

 What is smartness transition in rural areas?

Ossi Kotavaara from the University of Oulu, Finland, a key partner of the SMART ERA project, explains what smartness transition entails for rural areas. 

Rural vision or rural action?

'Bridging Vision and Action. Smart Rural Development That Leaves No Region Behind’ was the first stakeholder conference dedicated to cross-macroregional cooperation for smart rural development. The conference took place in Sofia on 24 March 2026 under the auspices of the Bulgarian Presidency of the EU Danube Strategy.

Over 90 stakeholders from all four macro-regional strategies representing public authorities, local municipalities, research, civil society, and business gathered to discuss how how smart rural development can contribute to a territorial vision that leaves no region behind and how cooperation within and across macro-regional strategies can support this.

The conference was organised by Priority Area 10 Institutional Capacity and Cooperation with the support from the Horizon project SMART ERA and the Bulgarian EUSDR Presidency.

Rural challenges and solutions

Learn about our pilots' challenges - and solutions - through our carousels (cf. our social media channels), and our EIP-AGRI Practice Abstracts. The two below relate to the pilots of Northern Ostrobothnia (Finland) and Šmarje-Padna (Slovenia).

Spot on: events of interest