Open-call results
339 applications, 26 funded projects in 14 countries: from farm-to-tourist workshops to a forestry GeoAI that cut analysis time from 296 to 11 minutes.
What did the PoliRural+ open calls produce, and how strong is the evidence that the instrument worked?
26 projects (6 Outreach, 7 Mobilise, 6 Develop, 7 Enhance) in 14 countries shared about EUR 851,000 and delivered needs studies, ideathons, operational apps and real-world JackDaw validations. D6.3 rates the instrument favourably on demand, outputs and beneficiary feedback, but the evidence is mostly outputs and short-term outcomes, partly self-reported, with no counterfactual.
- 339 applications, 30 approved, 26 funded: 7.67 % of applicants ended up with a project
- Each call produced a different kind of result: needs maps, ideathons, operational apps, JackDaw validations
- LocalLinks.AI mapped 460 supplier-customer links of 175 producers around Klatovy
- D6.3 shows outputs and early outcomes; long-term impact is left to D6.4
What 26 funded third parties built
main tellingdepth: standard3 min markdown
The Financial Support to Third Parties programme distributed EUR 850,968 across 26 projects in 14 European countries. The open-call design climbed a ladder (Outreach → Mobilise → Develop → Enhance), and each rung produced a different kind of result.
| Call | Applications | Approved | Funded | Typical output |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Outreach | 16 | 9 | 6 | local needs and opportunity maps |
| Mobilise | 24 | 8 | 7 | ideathons and hackathons, 250+ participants in total |
| Develop | 102 | 6 | 6 | operational apps (self-reported TRL 7–8) |
| Enhance | 197 (37 excluded) | 7 | 7 | JackDaw validated under real conditions |
| Total | 339 | 30 | 26 |
Four approved applicants withdrew before contracting, so the funded rate is 26/339 (7.67 %).
Four results, one per rung
- FarmTourist, Úhlava o.p.s. (Czechia, Outreach). It contacted over 80 stakeholders and held the “From Farm to Tourist” workshop in Klatovy on 21 January 2025 (46 attendees, 26 long-term commitment questionnaires).
- LocalLinks.AI, Šumavaprodukt s.r.o. (Czechia, Develop). The LocalFarmsAI editor holds validated records of 175 producers, 220 sales outlets and 460 supplier-customer relationships. It feeds the Atlas and can be queried through JackDaw.
- Field2Fork AI Hub, EXO Soc. Cons. a r.l. (Italy, Develop). A store for Foggia producers with a “Personal Farmer” AI assistant and zero-kilometre pickup hubs, tested with 170 consumers (90.3 % positive) and 23 producers.
- SYLVAN-AI, Sylvanity B.V. (Netherlands, Enhance). It connected JackDaw to a 265 GB PostGIS database of 442.3 million cadastral parcels. In five forest use cases, time-to-insight fell from 296 to 11 minutes and usability scored SUS 87.5.
The Enhance projects also found JackDaw’s limits. GeoEDUHealth Access – Bacău (Romania) found that answers to complex derived spatial questions were not always reproducible. AURA (Greece) delivered 27 prioritised recommendations, and one of them led to an interface update during the project.
Did the instrument work?
D6.3 gives a favourable but bounded verdict. Demand was high, the portfolio was diverse, and beneficiaries reported a mean satisfaction of 4.67/5. All surveyed beneficiaries called their outputs transferable, and 81 % said they continue their work after the grant. These figures are self-reported, the TRLs are self-assessed, and no counterfactual was evaluated. D6.3 therefore evidences outputs and immediate outcomes. Long-term socio-economic impact is left to D6.4.
The main lesson concerns the pathway: going from regional challenge to experiment, validation and replication strengthens Regional Action Plans. It needs time, trusted local intermediaries and a way to feed results back into planning. For future calls, D6.3 recommends projects of 9–12 months and lighter reporting.
Related
- Builds on: The open-call ladder