A workshop led by Gérontopôle Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Haute-Corrèze Communauté identified challenges relating to housing, social isolation and mobility
Gérontopôle Nouvelle-Aquitaine, in collaboration with Haute-Corrèze Communauté, organised an intergenerational workshop on 24 September at the Au Beau MilLieu community hub in Meymac. The event was held as part of RuralSilverHubS, a European project co-funded by the Interreg Sudoe Programme.
The session, held between 2.00 pm and 5.00 pm, brought together 11 participants from academia, the business community, civil society and the public sector. The intergenerational nature of the workshop was reflected in the participation of people from three different age groups: under 40, between 40 and 54, and aged 55 and over.
During the three-hour session, participants examined the main challenges posed by population ageing in the rural areas of Haute-Corrèze. The workshop supported a collective discussion aimed at identifying local needs and proposing potential solutions informed by the knowledge and experience of local stakeholders.
The diversity of ages and professional backgrounds enabled rural ageing to be considered from several perspectives, drawing on academic knowledge, business experience, public-sector action and citizens’ first-hand knowledge of the area. This participatory approach reflects the RuralSilverHubS methodology, which places local people and stakeholders at the heart of designing new responses for rural communities.
A forthcoming call for expressions of interest to turn challenges into solutions
The findings gathered during the workshop will provide the basis for drafting a call for expressions of interest, known by the French abbreviation AMI. The call is expected to be launched in early December 2026 and will address issues including housing, social isolation and mobility.
The call will help move the process forward from collectively identifying challenges to finding initiatives capable of responding to the needs identified across the territory. It will connect local knowledge with potential social, business and service-based solutions relating to ageing and the healthy-ageing economy in rural areas.
Participants responded positively to the collaborative discussion methods, the opportunity to discover local initiatives and the range of perspectives represented during the session. The involvement of different age groups and representatives from academia, business, the public sector and civil society enriched the assessment of the challenges associated with rural ageing.
A social innovation laboratory rooted in the local area
The workshop forms part of the testing of a social innovation laboratory methodology coordinated by Gérontopôle Nouvelle-Aquitaine in the Haute-Corrèze Communauté area. Within RuralSilverHubS, the French organisation leads one of the project’s three work packages and coordinates the implementation of the laboratories across the participating territories in France, Spain and Portugal.
These laboratories are intended to create synergies between key stakeholders in each territory and encourage entrepreneurial responses to the challenges identified with the involvement of local communities. The model will form part of the future RS-Labs network, conceived as a group of social and digital innovation spaces for rural areas affected by depopulation.
The initiative is also aligned with the mission of Gérontopôle Nouvelle-Aquitaine, whose work focuses on promoting research and innovation to improve quality of life throughout the ageing process, connecting public authorities, businesses, professionals, researchers and citizens, and supporting initiatives developed in response to local needs.
About RuralSilverHubS
RuralSilverHubS is a European transnational cooperation project running from June 2025 to November 2027, with an approximate budget of €1.3 million and a funding rate of 75%. Of this budget, €195,000 is allocated to the participation of Gérontopôle Nouvelle-Aquitaine.
The initiative addresses three challenges shared by rural areas in South-West Europe: population ageing, depopulation and limited access to certain services. To address these challenges, the project supports the creation of social innovation laboratories and the development of the Rural Silver Economy Observatory, which will collect information and help measure the economic activity associated with healthy and active ageing in rural areas.
The project brings together nine beneficiary organisations from Spain, France and Portugal and is led by Diputació de Tarragona. Its French partners are Gérontopôle Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Clusterlab Silver Occitanie, with the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region participating as an associated partner.