Following its successful launch in Xiamen, China, the EU-China project NEXRUR has celebrated its launch in Europe. With the kick-off at the Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy in Potsdam (ATB), the project embarks on its mission to promote innovative and sustainable business models that strengthen the economy in rural areas in Europe and China. The focus is on a shared vision of community-based entrepreneurship as the key to a resilient and prosperous future. The project will run for four years and is funded by the EU with around €6 million.
Rural areas and agriculture face enormous challenges – from changing climatic conditions and declining biodiversity to profound economic and social changes. To actively shape these developments, new, sustainable ways of creating value are needed. Innovative, community-based business and production models have a key role to play here: they can help to combine social and environmental sustainability with economic stability, create new jobs and strengthen the participation of local actors.
The NEXRUR project, funded in parallel by two independent consortia from the EU and China, aims to promote the exchange and joint development of knowledge about community-based business models in Europe and China. The analysis and transfer of successful practical examples should strengthen innovation processes in rural regions and support strategies for sustainable development.
NEXRUR empowers farmers and local initiatives to develop, implement and scale co-creative new and improved business models. Their economic, social and environmental impacts are systematically examined and fed into political and entrepreneurial decision-making processes.
The kick-off meeting in Potsdam brought together 55 participants from science, politics and practice, including high-ranking representatives of the European Commission and the National Contact Point as well as the Chinese partner consortium. In intensive working sessions, the partners defined the first concrete steps of the collaboration and specified the research and action agenda for the next four years. During an excursion to visit practice partners in the district of Ostprignitz-Ruppin, the 1st Deputy District Commissioner, Mr Nüse, welcomed the delegation.
"The exchange of practical knowledge and the joint development of business models are crucial for the success of local community initiatives in rural areas," emphasises Philipp Grundmann, Scientific Project Coordinator at ATB. "With NEXRUR, we are creating the knowledge needed to develop sustainable and tailor-made solutions for rural regions at local, regional and international level. In this way, collaborative entrepreneurship can become a driving force for a sustainable regional economy."
Juliane Corredor Jimenez, also a project coordinator at ATB, adds: "To create a robust knowledge base, we analyse how technical and organisational innovations affect the economic, social and environmental performance of 22 established case studies. In addition, we are supporting seven innovative start-ups in Europe and China. This practical research under real-world conditions will yield in actionable solutions for companies and other social actors."
The results of NEXRUR will provide practice-oriented strategies, tools and policy recommendations for the successful development of community-based business models. The resulting knowledge, including a monitoring framework for businesses in rural areas, will be disseminated in Europe, China and beyond. The aim is to support the introduction of innovative production and business models that strengthen the economic power of rural regions in the long term while securing the incomes of farmers.
About NEXRUR
NEXRUR officially commenced its activities on 1 October 2025 and will run for four years. The project consortium, led by the Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy (ATB, Germany), brings together 21 partners from Europe: Humboldt University of Berlin (UBER, Germany), Stichting Wageningen Research (WR, Netherlands), University of Burgos (UBU, Spain), Collaborating Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production gGmbH (CSCP, Germany), RISE Research Institutes of Sweden AB (RISE, Sweden), Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet (SLU, Sweden), Greenovate! Europe (G!E, Belgium), Federal Agency for Agricultural Economics and Mountain Farming (BAB, Germany), Fundación Centro Europeo de Empresas e Innovación de Murcia (CEEIM, Spain), Cluster Viooikonomias kai Perivallontos Dytikis Makedonias (CLUBE, Greece), Fundación Universitaria San Antonio (UCAM, Spain), Association Européenne Leader pour le Développement Rural (ELARD, Belgium), GreenFlex (France), Magyar Akvakultúra Technológiai és Innovációs Platform Egyesület (HUNATiP, Hungary), Zabala Innovation Consulting S.A. (Spain), Coöperatie Stadslandbouw Oosterwold U.A. (Netherlands), Verein für Landschaftspflege Potsdamer Kulturlandschaft e.V. (LPVPo, Germany), Landschaftspflegeverband Prignitz Ruppiner Land e.V. (LPVPR, Germany), Asociación de Productores de Ganado Criado a Pasto (DeYerba, Spain).
The nine partners from China are the Institute of Urban Environment of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo University, Zhejiang Gongshang University, the Research Centre for Eco-Environmental Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (RCEES), the Institute of Agricultural Economics and Development of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Zhejiang University, Yangzhou University, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences.
You can find out more about the progress of the project on the LinkedIn page and on the project website.
Contact
Coordination:
ATB - Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy
nexrur@atb-potsdam.de
Philipp Grundmann
pgrundmann@atb-potsdam.de
Juliane Corredor Jimenez
jcorredorjimenez@atb-potsdam.de
Communication:
Greenovate! Europe, info@greenovate-europe.eu
Project information
Funding agreement ID: 101181273
Call topic: HORIZON-CL6-2024-COMMUNITIES-02-2-two-stage – New sustainable business and production models for farmers and rural communities (RIA)
Full name: NEXT-GENERATION SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MODELS AND MONITORING FOR RURAL RESILIENCE AND INNOVATION
Budget: €5,999,774.50