NEXTAGRI

The project

NextAgri (Innovative approaches to Education experimentation and Entrepreneurship in peri-urban Agricultural territories) is a URBACT Network made up of four European cities: Milan (Lead Partner IT), Almere (NL), Vila Nova de Gaia (PT), Stara Zagora (BG ).

The project is a UIA - Transfer mechanism URBACT pilot network that was born from the experience of Milan and the OpenAgri project.
The city decided to create a collaboration between partners at the city level to strengthen its positioning in the peri-urban agricultural sector, triggering stable growth and creating new jobs and skills. The project is mainly an urban policy experiment that follows the place-based approach, focusing on new skills for new jobs in peri-urban agriculture.
The project area can be defined as the "urban fringe", which represents the transition zone between the consolidated part of the city and agricultural land. The challenge was to identify an innovative urban service aimed at creating new jobs, skills, start-ups and innovation in the agri-food sector, increasing the level of resilience and sustainability of the city.

As part of the “Milan Food Policy” (the Milan Food Policy and the political strategy called “Circular Milan”), the post-UIA OpenAgri legacy consists of an innovation hub serving a larger part of the park agricultural, with a strong focus on waste water, understood as activities relating to the treatment, valorisation and reuse of waste water of any origin (municipal, industrial or agricultural).

Partnership

NextAgri is the mechanism for transferring the Milan practice to three European cities: 

  1. Vila Nova de Gaia (Portugal); (inhabitants: 302.295 - area: 168,46 km1.721.038) Metropolitan area of ​​Porto (population: 2.040,31 - area: XNUMX kmXNUMX);
  2. Stara Zagora (Bulgaria); (population: 158.563 - area: 190,46 km333.325) Province of Stara Zagora (population: 5.151.000 - area: XNUMX kmXNUMX);
  3. Almere (Holland); (population: 207.904 - area: 248,77 sq.km.) Province of Flevoland (population: 423.021 - area: 2.412,00 sq.km.).

The knowledge transfer process will consist of five main pillars and will be structured in modules as follows:

  1. The role of open innovation in developing an entrepreneurial support ecosystem: will focus on methods and approaches to foster the creation of innovative new businesses and social enterprises focused on innovation and sustainability in peri-urban agriculture and agri-food.
    The approach and methods adopted in the co-planning of an open call for research into innovative ideas in peri-urban agriculture are to be shared (from agri-food technologies to agro-ecology to social innovation).
  2. Education and Training (the “Food Innovator”): The focus will be on how to create a conducive training environment to build new skills to implement innovative solutions in peri-urban agriculture and the food sector.
    The module focuses on methods and tools adopted in the co-design of a mentoring/acceleration program, for example integrating economic/financial tools (business models/business canvas) and territorial (and experiential) knowledge/wisdom.
    Best practices will be presented through practical workshops, such as the “Officina” format (an exclusive food fablab that combines culinary tools with 3D printers, laser cutters, sensors, Arduino, etc. powered by Future Food Institute), and the “Open badges” (a connected and digital way to showcase professional skills).
  3. Rethinking the management of agricultural land use in peri-urban areas (An innovative “Masterplan”): cities can play a key role both in facilitating access to agricultural land for innovators and in supporting entrepreneurship that has multifunctionality as an approach.
    The module will focus on the so-called "Masterplan 18x30" as a tool for redesigning an area of ​​30 hectares of agricultural land owned by the Municipality, according to 18 projects selected through the tender.
  4. Resilient and integrated urban development: as part of the OpenAgri project, a process of regeneration of a Milanese peri-urban area was started, through the development of an innovative food hub.
    The agro-ecological and landscape project developed by the 30-hectare Masterplan has created a new location for the city; this means designing for shared access to systems and services, designing functional infrastructures, activating networks between people, places and products, developing new business opportunities that integrate private and public interests/objectives.
  5. Long-term sustainability: starting from the lessons learned from the trajectory of OpenAgri, the focus will be on the business and governance model and the main challenges related to sustainability (embedding of the project in a broader political strategy; commitment and co-investment by the administration; the ability to build a new strategic partnership during the project life cycle).

The five modules represent the culmination of three years of pioneering activity of one of the first waves of UIA projects; the project has kept its promises, however, there is still work to be done after the UIA funding ends.

In summary, the impact dimensions of NextAgri are consistent with Urbact's intent to promote and shed light on Urbact FOOD NETWORKS such as: "Diet for a Green Planet", "Agri-Urban", "Sustainable Food in Urban Communities", “BioMense”, “RURBAN”, “BeePathNet” and “Food Corridors”.

Updated: 04/04/2023