The president of the Diputació de Lleida, Joan Talarn, accompanied by deputy Jordi Verdú and area director Ramon Boixadera, participated in Seville in the meeting of the CIT Network and the presentation of the Shared CIT Agenda. This event, linked to the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission, took place at CaixaForum Seville.
The conference presented an initiative driven by territorial innovation centres from twelve provinces across nine autonomous communities. The objective is to promote joint projects to transform renewable natural resources into economic activity and employment in their home territories. The promoting group estimates that these twelve provinces hold over 30% of the State's renewable natural capital.
The Shared Agenda ‘Lleida, Land of Opportunities’, launched by the Diputació de Lleida in 2020, is one of the precursors to the project presented. During the meeting, the Alcarràs biopolygon was showcased as an example of a bioindustrial activity area linked to local resources.
Joan Talarn, speaking on behalf of the diputacions and territorial innovation centres, advocated for the need to “place rural territories at the centre of Europe’s economic transformation and turn their resources and capacities into new opportunities for activity, employment, innovation, and well-being”. He stressed that the value generated must be rooted in the municipalities where it is produced and managed, to foster industry, knowledge, and skilled employment.
Referring to the Lleida experience, Talarn noted that challenges such as depopulation, energy transition, and the transformation of the production model require continuous collaboration between administrations, companies, universities, trade unions, and social entities. Cooperation with other territories allows for knowledge sharing, scaling up projects, and strengthening dialogue with European institutions.
The projects addressed in Seville are organized around two lines of work: increasing the value of renewable natural resources through initiatives like biopolygons and bioindustries, and preserving their regeneration capacity through forest management and regenerative agriculture. Funding and investment needed to drive these projects were also discussed.
Participants agreed to request state and European institutions to recognize rural territories as stakeholders in bioeconomy-based economic transformation policies. This commitment was formalized in a memorandum of understanding.
The initiative is endorsed by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission and the OECD. The CIT Shared Agenda's promoting group includes territorial innovation centres linked to Lleida, Aran, Asturias, Huesca, Castellón, Valencia, Cuenca, Jaén, Granada, Cáceres, Ciudad Real, Salamanca, and Lugo, totaling thirteen centres from twelve provinces and nine autonomous communities.
