European rural areas embody outstanding examples of Cultural and Natural Heritage (CNH) that need not only to be safeguarded, but also promoted as a driver for competitiveness, sustainable and inclusive growth and development. RURITAGE establishes a new heritage-led rural regeneration paradigm able to turn rural areas in sustainable development demonstration laboratories, through the enhancement of their unique CNH potential. RURITAGE has identified 6 Systemic Innovation Areas (pilgrimages; sustainable local food production; migration; art and festivals; resilience; and integrated landscape management) which, integrated with cross-cutting themes, showcase heritage potential as a powerful engine for economic, social and environmental development of rural areas. The knowledge built in 14 Role Models (RMs) and digested within the project, will be transferred to 6 Replicators (Rs) across Europe. Through a multilevel and multidirectional process of knowledge transfer, RMs will mentor and support the Replicators in the development and implementation of their strategies and, at the same time, will further increase their knowledge and capacities. A robust monitoring system will assist this process. Local Rural Heritage Hubs, gathering stakeholders and civil society, will be settled in Rs to work as living labs where heritage-led rural regeneration strategies will be co-created and implemented, while in RMs they will reinforce the ownership of CNH. Both RMs and Rs will also benefit of the RURITAGE Resources Ecosystem, a set of tools including, among others, a rural landscape mapping tool (RURITAGE Atlas) and a Replication Toolbox within an online and interoperable platform. These tools will foster knowledge building, providing evidence and supporting replication and up-scaling activities of the implemented heritage-led regeneration strategies and plans, contributing to mainstream heritage in Regional, National, European and global policies.

This project aims to provide students and educators, with special emphasis on the disabled and the visually impaired, the opportunity to enjoy the experience of Geoparks and introduce them to the Earth Sciences. The project also aims to provide the educational tools (maps and interactive audio-visual content) that will be developed for a remote understanding of the Geoparks for schools, teachers, and students as well as easier navigation for people with disabilities in real visits. The consortium consists of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of the University of Patras, the Museum of Natural History of the Petrified Forest of Lesvos, the Liepājas Neredzīgo Biedrība (Liepāja society of the Blind) in Latvia, the Red Cross special school of Cyprus near the geological monuments of the Troodos Geopark, the CEIP LA JARA school from Spain, near the Andalusian Geoparks and OPENCOM I.S.S.C. an ICT company near the huge Geoparks of Northern Italy. Our main task in this project is to develop two applications and one interactive website related to Geology and Geoparks for the visually impaired and the disabled, as well as the general public. The first application will transform images and geological evidence such as fossils, rocks or petrified trees into sound. When this happens a visually impaired person can touch a touchscreen and “feel” according to the sound changes the shape of the fossil or geological evidence. The researchers in the University of Patras have previous experience towards this direction as they have transformed in the past astronomical images into sounds, so now this project intends to expand their activity to other kinds of images. The second application refers to a mapping and navigation application with special features for the disabled and the visually impaired. With this mapping application, a visitor in a Geopark can be assisted in their path, especially one with a disability. This route can then be available to other visitors either they visit the Geopark, or through the interactive website. We aim to provide extra abilities to this application such as uploading images, photos, videos and information related to points of interest in the Geopark. This will be extra useful for a real or a virtual visitor but also will be very educative for teachers that wish to provide their students with a multimedia lesson to a geological monument. Apart from this, a person with disabilities that cannot access a Geopark can thus accomplish a sort of virtual visit.We believe that our consortium is capable and experienced enough to provide the necessary effort and efficacy towards the successful fulfillment of our project. We have capable school partners from countries with UNESCO recognized Geoparks (Cyprus, Spain, Greece) and additionally the support as a partner from the President of the world UNESCO Geopark Network, Professor N. Zouros, from the Museum of Natural History of the Petrified Forest of Lesvos. Apart from these partners, the University of Patras as a technical and research leader will provide the pioneering experience in the field of developing the applications and OpenCom apart from the proximity to Italian Geoparks can provide us excellent ICT expertise.The Museum of Natural History of the Petrified Forest of Lesvos is strongly interested in using the applications towards the direction of making these visits friendly to visually impaired and disabled persons. The developed website will contain all materials as free to use, according to the Marakesh agreement signed by EU that claims access to people with disabilities and especially blind people to all intellectual outputs.