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PoliRural

Future Oriented Collaborative Policy Development for Rural Areas and People

Project info

Project	PoliRural – Future Oriented Collaborative Policy Development for Rural Areas and People
Duration	1.6.2019 -31.5.2022
Partners	37 partners from 17 countries
Funding	This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 818496

PoliRural is a research and innovation project designed to advance rural policy development in the age of disruptive data and technologies in order to deliver a trusted, scalable and transferable solution for policy co-creation.

The project brings together decision makers, experts and rural inhabitants using advanced policy simulation tools to better understand and tackle regional challenges, ultimately making rural areas and professions more attractive and liveable for established populations and recent or potential newcomers.

PoliRural is coordinated by the University of Prague. Finnish partners in the project are Häme University of Applied Sciences (HAMK) and Smart&Lean (S&L)

Project’s main website: polirural.eu

Priority issues

Overall ambition (vision statement): The pilot will use PoliRural results to boost the region’s attractiveness by introducing business-friendly policies that can encourage new entrepreneurs to create products and services on circular-economy and well-being, which in the future may become a significant source of employment.

Operating area

PoliRural H2020 Project selected 12 pilot areas to test the project methodology in different climate, geography, topography, social and economic conditions. These areas are building a community of interest around each pilot and have engaged many different stakeholders with direct knowledge and experience of the region.

More about these pilot areas: polirural.eu/pilots/

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PoliRural Promo Video

Häme pilot fiche

Häme pilot is one of the pilot area of PoliRural regions.

Häme Pilot Region has a great potential due to its location in Southern Finland between Finland’s biggest cities, Helsinki, Tampere and Turku. Häme Pilot Region consist of two counties; Kanta-Häme (western part) and Päijät-Häme (eastern part). Kanta-Häme county has about 171,000 inhabitants and an area of 5700 square kilometers. Kanta-Häme county has small and medium-sized towns and many lakes, the largest of which is Vanajavesi. The Kanta-Häme county center is located in Hämeenlinna. The population of Päijät-Häme area is over 201,000 and the total area is 6250 square kilometers. The county center is located in the city of Lahti. Häme Pilot Region is mainly classified as rural areas close to urban areas.

Agriculture, the food industry and food trade are of great importance to employment and the regional economy in the regions of Kanta-Häme and Päijät-Häme. 16% of the population is employed in the food chain. The food chain’s net sales were 1.4 billion euros in Kanta-Häme and 1.5 billion euros in Päijät-Häme. Indirectly, the food sector employs most in services, traffic, trade and construction.

Due to the constructional change on agriculture, forestry and industry their role as an employer has decreased in Häme Pilot Region. At the same time the service industry e.g. the hospitality, tourism, well-being, building and maintenance services have increased.

The benefits of location near metropolitan area (Helsinki region) and other close big cities have not been fully exploited and the population of the region has not increased recently. Mainly because population is ageing, and young adults are moving away from region to study and to get a job. Jobs are concentrated in towns like Helsinki, Tampere, Hämeenlinna and Lahti and hence the employment in rural areas is challenging.