The Secretary General for the Demographic Challenge, Paco Boya, and Óscar Chivite, Councilor for Territorial Cohesion of the Government of Navarre, signed this Friday the Protocol for the creation of the Territorial Innovation Center (CIT) of Navarre, and its integration into the RedCIT, an initiative promoted by the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO), and which already has more than ten centers in various territories of our country – Badajoz, Cáceres, Cuenca, Huesca, Jaén, Lleoria, Valencia and Valencia.
“I am very happy to have signed the protocol by which Navarra joins the RedCIT” with its two headquarters, Estella, focused on social innovation issues and Sangüesa, dedicated to the industrial field,” Boya stressed during the meeting. “For us, it is critical that both governments work together to address the challenges facing the most underpopulated territories, creating opportunities for all.”
Challenge to social and technological innovation in the territory
The CIT of Navarre seeks to respond to the challenge of encouraging economic activity in areas in a situation of demographic decline, through the creation and promotion of an ecosystem of social and technological innovation. Improving territorial cohesion and the quality of life of the population; integrating the private sector in the fight against depopulation; sharing resources, connecting and strengthening entities operating in the territory; facilitating the creation of innovative projects and the retention of talent; and assessing needs and providing rural areas of the community with technological endowments are some of the main founding objectives.
With these goals, the new center, which was born already incardinated in the RedCIT, will operate simultaneously in two headquarters, located in the regions of Tierra Estella and Sangüesa, respectively, which will facilitate a more specific response to the needs identified in each of these territories.
The process of dialogue carried out in recent months with local action groups, civil society, municipalities and business associations, has allowed us to define the priorities in each of these regions, which will entail the implementation of two differentiated strategies, more adjusted to local needs.
In this sense, given that the greatest challenge identified in Tierra Estella lies in the need to strengthen the field of social services, this headquarters will prioritize the work linked to social innovation. For its part, in Sangüesa, it will especially highlight the commitment to technological innovation, which will allow to strengthen the connection of companies based in the region with the territory itself.
In line with the Strategy to Combat the Depopulation of Navarre, in addition, the CIT will focus its scope of action on six areas: new inhabitants, basic services, social relations, economic cohesion, territorial cohesion and identity and value of rural life. To this end, during its first months of operation, the work will focus on the identification and delimitation of the main challenges in each of these areas, which will facilitate the articulation of the most appropriate solutions in each case.
REDCIT, an initiative to boost rural innovation
Driven by the General Secretariat for the Demographic Challenge, the Territorial Innovation Centers seek to promote innovation throughout the territory, while supporting the initiatives that are already being developed in rural areas. In this sense, the ILCs are constituted as strategic spaces at the provincial level, from which collaboration between the private sector and the public, civil society and knowledge centres, such as universities, is encouraged, with the aim of achieving greater territorial equity through the strengthening of the socio-economic fabric in the areas affected by depopulation.
The RedCIT was born with the vocation of becoming part of the territory and feeding on the initiatives that are being developed in the rural environment, mobilizing endogenous resources and enhancing the talent and initiatives promoted by territorial agents. With this objective, it has been expanding its scope of action with the inclusion of Territorial Innovation Centers deployed throughout the national territory, and already has dozens of headquarters since, in addition to the two of the new CIT of Navarra, already operate in it those of the centers located in the provinces and regions of Badajoz, Cáceres, Cuenca, Huesca, Jaén, León, Lleida, Soria, Teruel, Val d’Aran and Valencia.
In addition, the CIT MITECO-CIUDEN, located in Cubillos del Sil (León), is established as a node of coordination between all these centers. Thus, it works as an organizational and collaborative environment that reinforces the different strategies and actions promoted by each of the CIT, while facilitating the development of joint initiatives and the design and execution of common projects of entrepreneurship in the areas in demographic decline.