Our Story
DRIVE – Driving Rural Innovation through startup Villages across Europe is an EU-funded project that unlocks the innovation potential of rural areas by empowering startups and entrepreneurs to deliver impactful, circular bioeconomy solutions.
We believe that Europe’s rural regions hold untapped opportunities for sustainable growth, economic diversification, and climate resilience. However, rural innovators often face barriers like limited access to funding, networks, knowledge, and markets. DRIVE is here to change that.
By fostering dynamic startup ecosystems within rural communities, we are creating fertile ground for breakthrough ideas, business models, and technologies to flourish. Our goal is to turn rural challenges into economic, environmental, and social success stories—while strengthening Europe’s green transition and digital transformation.
60+ rural
innovators trained
3 Startup
Village Action Plans
12 start-ups
accelerated
240 mentoring
hours delivered
Our Objectives
Whether you’re a founder eager to turn a breakthrough bio-based idea into a bankable venture, an investor or corporate seeking high-quality rural deal flow, or a policy-maker or cluster manager ready to shape Europe’s next wave of sustainable growth, DRIVE offers the platform, expertise and network you need.
Join our upcoming Startup Village Roadshows, mentor or evaluate promising teams, and co-design policy briefs and action plans that will cement Europe’s leadership in a circular, climate-neutral bio-economy.
Startup Support and Acceleration
Tailored mentoring, capacity building, and investment readiness programs for rural entrepreneurs and early-stage businesses.
Cross-Border Networking
Connecting rural startups with investors, corporates, policymakers, and innovation clusters at European level.
Demonstration Roadshows
On-the-ground events that showcase success stories and match rural startups with business and funding opportunities.
Knowledge Sharing
Capturing lessons learned and scaling up best practices for rural innovation across Europe.
Meet the Consortium
13 partners • 11 countries • 3 rural municipalities
From bio-tech clusters and research institutes to municipal governments and investor networks—every link you need in one powerhouse team.
The DRIVE consortium consists of 13 organizations (including the Associated Partners) involved in sectors such as biobased, research, business and, municipalities, coming from 11 different countries.
Join our community of entrepreneurs around Europe helping you succeed.
Our Consortium countries
Consortium partners come from both low/moderate innovation regions (Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Slovenia, Cyprus, Spain) and from strong/high innovation regions (Belgium, France, Ireland, Finland). The consortium has been carefully selected to cover all areas of expertise for the purpose of the project and is able to complete all foreseen tasks, also including 3 rural municipalities. All the team members are experienced professionals with remarkable experience in their respective fields and the project members have a great gender balance (56,5% of the DRIVE team are women).
