eRural Resilience in 2025: Strengthening Digital and Bio-Business Capacity in Rural Regions

“In 2025, eRural Resilience made significant progress in strengthening rural economies by supporting the digital and bio-based transformation of local businesses and business support organisations across the Baltic Sea Region. Through active stakeholder engagement and extensive piloting, the project successfully validated its core methodologies and tools, ensuring their relevance to real regional needs. At the same time, most project partners reported increased institutional capacity and improved readiness to support e-bio-business development. As the project moves into its final phase, eRural Resilience is well positioned to deliver lasting impact for rural regions in the digital bio-economy.”

Sven Tobreluts, CEO, Association of Municipalities of Tartu County (Lead Partner of the eRural Resilience project)

Engaging Target Groups and Stakeholders

Throughout 2025, project partners actively engaged key target groups in the validation and testing of project solutions, as well as in shaping the project’s HUB concept. These engagement activities played a crucial role in ensuring that the developed solutions respond to real regional needs and stakeholder expectations.

For example, in Poland, project partner Creativity Works Europe worked in close cooperation with the Local Staropolska Chamber of Commerce, which maintains a database of more than 250 local producers in the Świętokrzyskie Region. Together with the Community Support Group, potential companies were identified and proposed for testing Solution 2 – the Methodology for Supporting e-Bio-Business Launching. This close collaboration strengthened the practical relevance of the project outputs and supported their regional validation.

Reaching Key Milestones in Solutions Development

A major milestone in 2025 was achieved with the completion of Solution 2 – the Methodology for Supporting e-Bio-Business Launching. The methodology was defined, validated, and pre-tested, providing the core tools needed to support the transformation of local businesses into e-bio-businesses. Solution 2 is currently in the piloting phase across partner regions.

In parallel, the consortium further validated the Terms of Reference for the Solution 2 Online Tool. The online tool is expected to become operational in February 2026, after which it will be tested by project partners as an online assessment tool among bio-based businesses.

Strengthening Skills and Institutional Capacity

An important achievement in 2025 was the completion of the Skill Needs Analysis and Pathway Implementation. The methodology was tested in project partner organisations as well as regional business support organisations across the Baltic Sea Region.

The piloting phase confirmed that the methodology effectively identifies gaps in institutional readiness to support e-bio-business development. Based on the results, organisations can follow tailored development pathways that combine consortium-led capacity building with external expert support, enabling them to strengthen their competence as e-bio-business supporters.

Several methodological improvements were introduced during the piloting phase, including clearer scoring criteria and design adjustments to improve mobile usability. The online assessment tool is now publicly available via the project website and at www.ebiobusiness.eu/assessment.

Direct Support to SMEs and Individuals

Throughout the year, consortium partners conducted extensive fieldwork to reach final beneficiaries. By the end of 2025, over 150 visits to SMEs and individuals had been completed. These visits provided hands-on guidance and valuable insights into the practical challenges faced by rural entrepreneurs.

In parallel, partners completed full development itineraries using the project methodology. For example, Into Seinäjoki in Finland applied the full e-bio-business development methodology with eight companies, clearly demonstrating the practical applicability and scalability of the project’s tools.

Monitoring Impact and Anchoring Results

Impact monitoring in 2025 showed encouraging results. The majority of project partners—11 out of 14—reported increased institutional capacity during the first four project periods. Reported improvements included a better understanding of SME needs, strengthened project management and international cooperation skills, enhanced internal training and knowledge-sharing practices, and increased specialisation in digitalisation.

To anchor project results into daily practices and policy frameworks, consortium partners organised six Policy Breakfasts in Denmark, Estonia, Finland, and Poland. In addition, two Transnational Showcases were held, facilitating cross-border learning and experience exchange between Denmark and Germany, and between Estonia and Latvia.

Looking Ahead

As piloting progresses and tools become fully operational in 2026, eRural Resilience is well positioned to deliver lasting impact by empowering rural institutions and businesses to succeed in the digital bio-economy.

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