ICE Rural Competitiveness

Agrofood sector is an important economical activity in Castilla y León region, with a relevant representation in the GDP. CyL Competitiveness & Industrial Innovation Third Framework Agreement (2014-20) include ICE Rural Competitiveness project within its main priorities, defining its objectives: Encourage the creation, consolidation & growth of companies in rural areas, especially those linked to the production, transformation and/or marketing of agricultural & agri-food products and those linked to the exploitation of the endogenous resources of the territory, with special emphasis on the new activities that may be developed in the field of the bioeconomy. One of the most significant innovations incorporated in this Program is the participatory approach that will be used in the development of the whole project where STRING project is linked. Thus, both in the preparation and in the development and monitoring of it, a participatory process will be followed in which the main companies & economic & institutional agents will take part. Once the characterization study of each zone and the corresponding mapping have been carried out of companies, Work Groups are created (Territorial Clusters). WG constitute an intersectoral meeting forum, whose ultimate objective is the search for synergies & the improvement of the competitiveness of each of the zones. The sectoral strategic approach will be oriented in agrifood to traceability, quality, design, differentiation and distribution.