Filipe Sousa, Fraunhofer Portugal Research Center, Portugal

Celia Gomez – Gonzalez, Junta de Andalucia, Spain

Eva Orsos – Hegyesine, Hungary

Rationale

Southern European countries are facing a more abrupt breakdown of the social and family models than those of Northern European countries.  Globalization has aggressively affected rural territories in the Southern European countries, and is severely threatening the model of their economic sustainability.

Furthermore, Southern European countries are traditionally dependent on tourism, where population, culture and lifestyle play a significant contributing economic role.

New technologies and the ever-increasing ease of travel are factors that could contribute to redefining these rural territories.  A population’s ageing can either become the decisive ingredient for depopulation or it can form a new mode of lifestyle.

This session aims to provide an overview of the problems that could be faced by the Southern European countries and, more importantly, of the possible solutions and the resulting new opportunities.  Social innovation may be able to play a key role in addressing the challenge.