On 2 July 2026, SHINE 2Europe participated in the 33rd Congress of the Portuguese Association for Regional Development (APDR 2026), which was held at Instituto Politécnico do Cávado e do Ave (IPCA) in Barcelos, Portugal. The conference brought together researchers and practitioners to discuss current territorial challenges and the role of regions in responding to climate change, sustainability and socioeconomic transformation.
Representing SHINE 2Europe, Ângela Freitas presented the contribution “One-Stop Shops as Collaborative Infrastructures for Sustainability Transitions: Insights from the GUARDIANS Project”. The work was developed together with Natália Machado and Carina Dantas, from SHINE 2Europe, and GUARDIANS partners Raffaele Catoni (from SMACT Competence Center), Dario Vallauri (from NEXO Agrifood Hub) Sonia García and Emilio Tereñes Castelao (from CTIC Technology Centre). The presentation was delivered during the special session “Collaborative Laboratories towards sustainability transitions responses”, which explored the role of collaborative and place-based approaches in supporting more sustainable and resilient territories.
The contribution introduced the One-Stop Shop approach being developed within the GUARDIANS project to support the green and digital transitions of small and medium-sized farms. Digital technologies can contribute to more productive, sustainable and resilient farming systems, but their adoption is still limited by barriers such as costs, skills gaps, lack of trust and fragmented access to information and support. Within GUARDIANS, One-Stop Shops are envisaged as locally embedded innovation centres that connect farmers with digital technologies, training, advisory services, sustainable farming practices, financial opportunities and relevant actors from the agricultural innovation ecosystem. Cooperatives, Digital Innovation Hubs and agrifood hubs can therefore play an important intermediary role between farmers, technology providers, researchers and public institutions.
SHINE leads Work Package 2 – Farmer Engagement and Acceptance of Technology Enabled by Social Innovation, where it is developing participatory and multi-actor approaches to strengthen farmers’ engagement in the project. As part of this work, SHINE is supporting farming cooperatives in designing and implementing One-Stop Shops as an innovative governance model that can coordinate services, knowledge and actors while responding to the specific needs of farmers and territories.
The participation in the APDR Congress provided a valuable opportunity to share the project’s work with the regional development research community and discuss the role of collaborative infrastructures in advancing inclusive sustainability transitions in agriculture.
To learn more about the GUARDIANS project and follow its activities, visit: https://www.guardians-project.eu/
