Atlas of best practices

The Atlas of best practices: 126 things that worked somewhere

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The Atlas of best practices (https://atlasbestpractices.com) is the public catalogue of what PoliRural+ found worth copying. CCSS edits it, and it holds 126 practices. Objective O6 of the seven objectives set a KPI of more than 100 recognised best practices.

What an entry looks like

Every practice has a stable identifier (prp-…), a location, one or more activity tags, a description and a results field. The entries come from three directions:

• the nine pilots, e.g. the Klatovy innovation hub story (prp-052) or the Slovak foresight-to-implementation method (prp-079);
• the open-call projects: most have an entry (prp-114 GREEN to prp-128 eMooJI, among others), and some have several. LocalLinks.AI documented six farm cases, e.g. Farma Krasíkov (prp-072);
• project-wide services and methods, e.g. the Knowledge Space and Advisor service (prp-008) or the business model canvases for key exploitable results (prp-109).

The tags used in the Atlas are: innovation, regional economic development, digital public service, stakeholder engagement, capacity building, short food supply chains, governance, rural tourism, inclusive and sustainable territorial development, food production, knowledge management, foresight and RAP, agrotourism, rural-urban stakeholders, data and indicators, rural events and food systems, people-place bond, circular economy and cross-border cooperation.

Three practices worth opening

How a region uses it, and adds to it

1. Filter by tag and region. A practice tested in a context like yours, such as a border region or a short-chain food economy, transfers more easily than an abstract recommendation.
2. Read the results field first. It says what the practice changed.
3. Follow the trail. Open-call entries have public final reports, listed in D6.3, that hold the details.
4. Document your own. Write a title, location, tags, description and results, the same fields the pilots and open-call teams used. The Atlas editors (CCSS) publish the entries.

The Atlas shows where a practice worked. The key exploitable results are the tools and models that are meant to continue after 2026.

How-to: Using the Atlas step by step.

How to use the Atlas of best practices: search, compare, contribute

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When to use it: you are about to propose a measure for a RAP or a project and want to know whether something similar has been tried, where, and with what result.

What you need

• A browser: atlasbestpractices.com. D4.2 describes the Atlas as a front-facing resource, not only a back-office repository (§3.11).
• A clear description of your own context: the type of region, the theme and the actors involved.

Steps

1. Open the Atlas and search or browse. Entries are searchable and browsable, with a thematic presentation (D4.2 §3.11).
2. Filter by theme and region. Use the activity tags, for example short food supply chains, stakeholder engagement or cross-border cooperation, and then the location.
3. Open the candidates. Each entry carries a location, activity tags, a description and a results field. Read the results first: they say what the practice changed.
4. Compare contexts. D4.2 stresses comparison and future adaptation; a practice from a region like yours (a border area, a short-chain food economy) transfers more easily than an abstract recommendation.
5. Reuse it. D4.2 names three uses: pilot experimentation, reporting and advisory contexts, for example as a cited example in a RAP measure or a policy brief.
6. Document your own practice. Prepare a case description, location, thematic tags and results. The Atlas editors, CCSS, run the editorial flow that prepares and publishes entries.

What you get

A short list of tested practices with their place and results, and a way to make your own work visible to other regions in the same format. Three entries worth opening first are in the Atlas anchor.

Watch out

• An atlas is only as useful as the breadth and comparability of its content; D4.2 notes that without enough material the structure is “technically sound but operationally weak”. Check how far an entry’s context matches yours.
• The data model was recently adjusted and is still being stabilised, so fields can differ between older and newer entries.
• E-market linkages, meaning links from practices to local-food or regional-market tools, still need an operational definition. Do not count on them yet (D4.2 §3.11).

Practices show what worked in one place. The key exploitable results are the tools and models meant to continue after 2026.