VIDZEMES PLANOSANAS REGIONS

Their core work

Vidzeme Planning Region is a Latvian regional development authority responsible for spatial planning, rural policy, and sustainable development in the Vidzeme region of Latvia. In H2020 projects, they contribute practical regional governance experience — testing rural development policies, coordinating local energy action plans (SECAPs), and piloting food system innovations at the regional level. Their value lies in being a real-world implementation site: they bring actual municipalities, farmers, and local communities into EU research consortia as living laboratories for policy and technology testing.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Their early H2020 work (2016–2019) centered on energy partnerships and rural policy — broad governance topics like PANEL 2050's energy leadership and PoliRural's agricultural policy development using text mining. From 2019 onward, their focus became more concrete and applied: sustainable energy action plans (SECAPs), food system resilience, short supply chains, nature-based solutions, and even blockchain technology for food traceability. The shift is from abstract policy research toward tangible regional implementation of green and food transitions.

They are converging on the food-energy-climate nexus at the regional level, making them a strong fit for Green Deal implementation projects that need a real governance partner in the Baltics.

How they like to work

Vidzeme always participates as a partner, never as coordinator — consistent with their role as a regional public body contributing implementation capacity rather than leading research. With 115 unique partners across 32 countries in just 5 projects, they operate in large, diverse consortia (averaging 23+ partners per project). This means they are experienced at working within complex multi-country teams and can integrate smoothly into large-scale EU projects.

Despite only 5 projects, they have built connections with 115 partners across 32 countries — a remarkably wide network for a regional authority. This breadth comes from participation in large CSA and IA consortia spanning most of the EU and associated countries.

What sets them apart

As a regional planning authority (not a university or consultancy), Vidzeme offers something rare in EU consortia: direct access to real governance structures, municipal decision-makers, and rural communities in Latvia's largest region. They can serve as a genuine pilot site for testing policies, food systems, or energy plans — not just studying them theoretically. For consortium builders, they fill the critical "public authority implementation partner" slot, especially for projects needing Baltic or Central-Eastern European representation.

Highlights from their portfolio

• CITIES2030
  Their largest project by funding (EUR 184,300), combining food systems with blockchain technology and nature-based solutions — an unusually innovative scope for a regional authority.
• CEESEU
  Directly focused on Sustainable Energy Action Plans in Central-Eastern Europe, demonstrating their capacity to bridge EU energy policy with local municipal implementation.
• PoliRural
  Applied text mining and foresight methods to rural policy development — showing willingness to adopt digital tools for governance innovation.