1. An overview www.vitalruralarea.eu Interreg IV B North Sea Project Vital Rural Area

2. To find strategies to fortify rural areas by: 1) Enhancing the competitiveness of SMEs by empowerment of SME’s towards new economical prospects and innovations 2) Improving the overall perception of the region by branding towards a professional exposure of regions 3) Delivering more and better services by optimizing services, towards more and better accessible services and amenities Scope of the project and content basis

3. 43 ‘best practice’ project cases Fitting into one of the 7 Vital themes Outcome of the project

4. The Rural Power Pack Based on the project results and scientific knowledge the Rural Power Pack was developed: A general working method/standard for tackling rural problems commonly encountered in rural areas Tested transnationally on its transferability to other regions Offering tools and instruments to be used in other regions

5. The Rural Power Pack viewed more closely

7. The Rural Power Pack

8. Dissemination of project results Dissemination of results (2013-2014) over a web-based structure by: o appealing presentation of results (uniform project format, “story telling” form) oconnecting to networks and projects throughout EU 28 oaiming for interactive growth of knowledge by sharing project results and experiences oadding results from other projects and programmes

9. Executive phase July 2013 –July 2014 Other EU regions, stakeholders Extension and transformation Adding new best practices Vital Rural Area Regions Themes Methodology New regions and stakeholders within Vital countries New themes and new partners Improving methodology

10. Making Vital legacy sustainable Thematic development towards a new period (2014-2020) Network development by linking Vital regions to other projects and programs (Observatories)

11. Observatories Functioning as an ‘operating base’

12. Country pages Made operational by new country pages on the Vital website Enabling network development by linking to other partners and projects

13. Country pages

14. From Vital themes to new project focus points Healthy Ageing

15. From Vital themes to new project focus points: ANNO as example Innovation in SMEs and education

16. From Vital themes to new project focus points: ANNO as example Profiling and branding the region