The principal use of rural proofing of public, private and civil society initiatives is to test, through a rural lens, the alignment of objectives, interventions and measures of policies for tackling the issue or challenge they aim to address. The main outcome is the coherence of policies across sectors and territories in rural Scotland. Those policies cover public, private and civil society actors, reflecting the influence of each on rural communities, land and the governance of resources. Experiences of members of the Living Lab with statutory requirements of island and equality proofing provide familiarity with the concept and purpose. These include awareness of the limitations of open consultation questions and uncertainty about using the information collected. From initial deliberations, recommendations are to learn from requirements of statutory proofing, notably the Island Communities Impact Assessment process, which recognises the importance of benchmarking against fairness, integration, inclusiveness and the wording of the policy proposed. To these principles, the Living Lab recommends that transparency and accessibility should be added. The Living Lab recommends that rural proofing should be used early in the design of policy and interventions and as evidence in subsequent stages of public consultations and deliberations, including ex-ante assessments of potential impacts and ex-post when considering evidence that emerged subsequent to implementation of the policy. The Lab also recommends that the approach should use information available in the public domain and understood by non-experts whilst recognising that aspects of assessments will require particular scientific, practice or place-specific knowledge.

• Living Lab – United Kingdom: Rural Scotland

The activities in the Living Lab in Sweden focus on a better understanding of rural areas' diversity, i.e., how the green transition impacts rural areas, and how we can create a policy that can tackle the combination of depopulation, significant green investments, and regional hubs of growth within the region. Most political initiatives taken to equalise the gap between the centre and periphery do not capture the complexity and instead become compensatory and eventually consolidate the existing differences between urban and rural areas because all places are different. A territorial perspective is necessary for policy development to be successful and to support accurate efforts to promote rural development in our time. Relations between cities and rural areas must be highlighted from different perspectives to promote sustainable regional development. Regarding continued investment in sustainable urban development, it is important to emphasise the importance of cities, especially in the sparse northern regions. North Sweden is interested in looking at indicators that can strengthen diversification and provide a better understanding of rural areas. To make rural areas ready to adapt to changes, it is crucial to understand how different trends impact rural areas and how they respond to change to develop a better framework that explains their capacity to respond to the green transition. Through close cooperation with the EU institutions, support measures can be adapted to these specific challenges. Active participation in the GRANULAR project also provides tools for the region to create a better understanding of essential investments being made in northern Sweden regarding green transition.

• Living Lab – Sweden: Regions of North Sweden

The Living Lab in Poland conducts action research to understand the challenges faced by food producers and the interventions they undertake. This involves collaborative problem-solving activities and data-driven research, using mixed methods to delve into tacit knowledge – knowledge that is personal, often experiential and context-dependent rather than explicit and standardised. A mixed-methods approach combines a semi-structured questionnaire study, an in-depth interview, and participatory observations. In-depth interviews with agricultural producers will allow us to accurately describe and analyse the studied phenomenon in terms of learning about the ways of thinking, experiencing, habits, motivations, value systems, or dominant attitudes of food producers. The questionnaire will enable us to collect quantitative data on the socio-economic conditions of food producers, land use, agricultural productivity, and adaptation strategies. Discussion in focus groups and interviews with key stakeholders will enable building a common position on the needs of food producers and indicating ways to solve key problems in this area. The data obtained are primarily intended to provide knowledge for improving policy, professional practice, and actions taken to build the resilience of food producers. The conclusions drawn based on the conducted research will have an added value in formulating opinions and recommendations for all institutions at the regional, national, and EU levels interested in creating appropriate conditions enabling the implementation of appropriate measures to improve the economic situation of food producers.

• Living Lab – Poland: West Pomerania

Within the GRANULAR project, the Living Lab in the Netherlands has focused on research on the accessibility of basic services in rural areas. So far, we have gathered the quantitative data and also interviewed civil servants of three municipalities and village representatives within these three municipalities. The first insight we have discovered is that the quantitative data on the accessibility of basic services does not always match the perspective of the village representative and civil servants. Doing qualitative research gives us, therefore, a broader perspective on the accessibility of basic services and also the importance of villages in rural areas. Also essential for the liveability of the villages is to have a meeting place in the village itself, for example, a community building (kulturhus) or a local pub. We also have more insight into the complex relationship between basic services and resilience/quality of life/self-reliance of small centres in rural areas. Better insights into these relationships require the integration of data material from different backgrounds, from different policy fields and different scale levels. Municipal basic services policy seems to rely more on direct contact with representatives of small centres in addition to the use of CBS (data) material. There are also clear differences in basic services issues between P10 municipalities due to, for example, differences in size and the number of small centres, acceptance of dependence and use of basic services near larger centres and/or small centres or the orientations to larger centres outside their own municipal boundaries.

• Living Lab – Netherlands: P10

In the GRANULAR project, the Living Lab in Spain aims to collect and analyse new data related to hyperlongevity, e-governance, and fires. Through interviews and collaborations with local companies, the needs of elderly people in the province will be analysed. Cartographic materials will be produced to analyse the distribution of hyper-long-term people and compare it with the services offered. This global map will be contrasted with cartographic data of telecare programs for hyper-long-term people. Additionally, the project will analyse how ageing, culture, and education relate to forest fires through interviews and collaborations with members of the Living Lab. The first recommendation is to explore the different activities already carried out or in progress by the Living Lab's local partners. Many of these actions can provide valuable information and data, and replicable methodologies for other territories or Living Labs can be developed. The second recommendation is to diversify the Living Lab's composition to gain different perspectives and create interesting synergies. We believe creating an environment of trust between our partners is very important. In this sense, both the relationship and the setting of our own events are very important (small spaces, small groups, stages at the same height, etc).

• Living Lab – Spain: Ourense

Within the GRANULAR project, the Living Lab in Italy aims to develop datasets to improve multifunctionality in agricultural enterprises and qualify the tourist offer. Second, the involvement of the local stakeholders in the area's governance and the definition of valuable datasets should be improved. In this regard, the living lab has first-hand experience of the positive interactions between local actors and governance during meetings to discuss, e.g. priorities or actions. Third is developing knowledge and tools for public bodies and local administrations to improve the effectiveness of local governance actions. With the activities of our Living Lab, we want to gain a better knowledge of territorial dynamics (economic, social, environmental), which will be helpful for public administrations to identify better the priorities of the territory and the most effective actions to address them, i.e. knowing whether it is better to build a dam or whether to increase the infiltration capacity of water into the ground, or whether to invest in a local market or in purchasing local agricultural products in local canteens. They will be useful for agricultural companies, which, by better knowing the territorial economic context in which they operate (supply chains), will be able to direct their production to where it is most interesting and try to fill the infrastructural gaps. The recommendation will also benefit local tourist operators, who will be more effective in developing interesting tourist offers to best promote their territory and fill existing gaps with the local authorities in order to have tourism flows better distributed in time and space.

• Living Lab – Italy: Distretto Rurale Val di Cecina

The Living Lab in France aims to enhance mobility flows and develop targeted transport alternatives to individual cars, monitor the use of natural areas to minimize impacts on biodiversity, and assess the impact of drought. It encourages the use of existing data, offers workshops to improve local stakeholders' data processing skills, and promotes public awareness of data through activities such as a quiz. For instance, we implement workshops gathering data producers and users such as the French and the Catalan Institutes for Statistics (INSEE& IDESCAT) and local municipalities, communities, journalists or economic chambers to better know and use existing data. The GRANULAR project facilitates interaction among European local communities and research labs, enabling stakeholders to refine public policies and private initiatives. The observation methodology involves web scraping, mobile phone data, and qualitative surveys of volunteer residents. The goal is to critique data collection methods and ensure reproducibility in other rural areas of the European Union and the British Isles. By objectifying trends, rural stakeholders can enhance the credibility of their projects and collaborate with regional, national, and European partners. The Living Lab supports municipalities and communities in creating a common mobility service work plan with the Occitanie Region. Involving practitioners in the co-design of monitoring tools will strengthen their capacity to make data-driven decisions. Lastly, the development of access and display tools will facilitate the transformation of collected data into contributions to decision-making.

• Living Lab – France: Pays Pyrénées Méditerranée