Developing rural policies to meet the needs of a changing world

 Despite the ambitious goals set by Lisbon Agenda and the consequent effort in this direction of the Italian RDPs, rural areas communities continue to suffer from depopulation, ageing, decline of economic activities and lack of essential public services.
"The road" after OECD Rural Policy Review offered an opportunity to set up priority strategies and actions for ensuring development of rural areas and for turning agriculture diversity into strength.
Equipped with a better understanding of economic implications for the future of rural communities and relative needs for sustainable growth, we have implemented short and medium term policy actions that are framed by a strategic long-term vision, finalised at ensuring that the policy is actually delivered  and  ensure coherence with rural areas opportunities/needs.
This short present presentation  is intended to be a knowledge-improving step in the definition of economic, social and environmental drivers of change, readdressing the current demographic trend and aims at analysing five  key factors (Human capital, economic diversification, services sustainability, food safety and quality of life) that all play a role toward a new rural areas development. On the policy side, it analyses those strategies, implemented at national level with a "comprehensive" approach, that have had an impact on rural development, analysing possible innovation approaches which help revitalize rural communities.
Concluding, rural areas are diverse in their needs and they need tailored approaches: this suggests a strong role "horizontal" coordination in decision making and implementation. We have also learnt from past experience (both successes and failures) that no local area has been able to solve its problems on its own: to be competitive, appropriate technologies, acquisition of know-how and safety and quality rules are required to effectively develop  rural areas, taking  actors out of isolation and placing them in a more vital context of economic opportunities.