Continuing with our periodical Project Partners interviews, it's time to hear the insight from:

CTRIA: Central Transdanubian Regional Innovation Agency Nonprofit Ldt.

CTRIA is a regional-level agency focusing on establishing a network of services through a strong cooperation network with other service providers, universities and the business sector, as well as the general community through national and international partnerships. The Central Transdanubian Regional Innovation Agency aims at providing innovation and support in the Central Transdanubian Region.

Let's take a look at what they have to say!

What determined your interest in urban and peri-urban agriculture and how did you first decide to get involved into AgriGo4Cities?

The activities of our organization are strongly related to innovation. On this field we are involved in several European projects and we provide consultancy for regional actors. I think when we say the word innovation most of the people associate with computers, laboratories and such things that have potential to produce direct economic value. But in the reality all economic activities are surrounded by a society and several scientific research have revealed that the social background plays an important role in innovation processes. Because of the strong relations to social innovation of the AgriGo4cities we believe that the project is a good opportunity for us to develop our local area.

What is the impact you expect to achieve in your region through this project?

In the project, especially during the pilot action we will examine the potentials of urban agriculture in the field of participatory planning and social inclusion. The participatory methods will be tested and monitored and the newly gained knowledge will be synthesized. Afterwards the results can be integrated into the local strategies, due to that better local governance models can be developed in the region. It is also really important for us to raise awareness and increase the level of social responsibility among the local actors.

On the other hand, in our pilot action we will work with students that have disabilities or learning or behavioural difficulties. They learn in a vocational school where they attend programmes that are related to gardening. While planning and establishing the garden they will learn how to work together inside their group as well as with other people. They will also have the opportunity to develop their professional skills. We expect that during this process we can increase their integration into the society and improve their opportunities on the labour market.

Which do you think will be the biggest benefit for your country in the project?

We will distribute the expert materials about participatory urban agriculture that we develop in the framework of the project. This knowledge can be channelled into the education as well as into decision-making processes.

What has been the biggest challenge brought by AgriGo4Cities? How did you face it?

For our team the biggest challenge is our situation in the project, because our organization is the only partner that is strategic and territorial partner at the same time. This means that we provide our knowledge and experience to other territorial partners, but as a territorial partner we also use the expertise of other strategic partners for planning and implementing our pilot action. I wouldn’t say that this is a problem what we have to solve, I more see this situation as an interesting possibility. In order to do our best in both roles we put a lot of emphasis on teamwork within our project team. We also sought for external experts and established co-operations with them, so we are able to channel their knowledge and experience into our project.

What is your impression about AgriGo4Cities so far?

As I already mentioned I believe that the idea behind the project is really great and relevant in our region. The partnership works really hard to reach our goals and I think if we continue with this attitude we will be able to create great outputs and impact till the end of the project. AgriGo4Cities also a special project for me if I consider personal aspects. This is my first transnational project in which I have been involved since the beginning, so it is really important for me and I really enjoy working on it.

You want to find out more about CTRIA? Click on their logo!

For more info on us and our project partners, follow us on