Rural Valley turns depopulating European villages into residential hubs where digital talent, local communities and emerging businesses build the future together. First pilot opens in San Xoán de Río, Galicia — July 2027.
Rural Europe is emptying. Working-age population is leaving for cities; villages are losing schools, services and shops. Meanwhile, digital workers are paying premium urban rents for 50 m² flats they barely use. The two trends solve each other — but only if someone builds the bridge.
By 2035, Rural Valley proves that rural Europe is not a problem to be managed but a frontier to be built on — and that digital, demographic and territorial cohesion can move forward in the same direction. Each hub is sized to its host territory, built on local supply chains, and connected to the others as a peer network.
Rural Valley is a residential infrastructure, not a programme. We build, we host, we co-design. Each hub combines three layers that reinforce each other.
A renovated 100-bed building in the host village, run as a 12-month residency for 30 startup teams per cohort, plus year-round stays for digital professionals.
A 12-month programme that turns each cohort into 30 ventures with traction. Curriculum, mentors, demo days and investor access — co-delivered with regional and EU partners.
"Reconnection with the Land" wires residents into local life: shops, elders, schools, festivities. Care and longevity are part of the product, not the postscript.
The first Rural Valley opens in San Xoán de Río, Ourense — a 500-inhabitant Galician municipality that has just been recognised by the European Commission for its sustainable-longevity model. The host village ceded a 100-bed mountain albergue for the residency. Three-year plan, first cohort July 2027.
EU Capitals of Inclusion & Diversity 2026 — Bronze winner Awarded to San Xoán de Río (under-50,000 category) for its sustainable-longevity model — care networks, active elder participation and rural accessibility. The pilot builds on a Commission-recognised foundation.
Rural Valley · Impact Campus · Wye Works · The Strategic School · Entre Nos · with institutional support from Xunta de Galicia, IGAPE, CEG and Startup Galicia.
Rural Valley is not a new policy. It is residential infrastructure that activates three frameworks the Commission has already prioritised — at the village scale, with measurable outputs.
Rural Valley delivers the Smart Villages thesis at the village scale: connectivity, services and economic activity built around the host community.
The four objectives of the Rural Pact map directly onto the three layers of the Rural Valley model — residential, programmatic, communal.
Each hub is a measurable instrument for territorial cohesion — beds, jobs, residents, services, intergenerational links — at a scale where outputs are auditable.
Rural Valley is being built by a consortium, not a single founder. Whatever your seat at the table, here is the door.
Co-fund the Galicia pilot as Tier A, with a Letter of Intent for two-to-three follow-on Member State pilots as Tier B. We share the 19-slide briefing on request.
Request the briefingHost the next Rural Valley. We are mapping candidate municipalities outside Galicia for cohorts opening from 2029. Building stock, demographics, fibre — let us run the diagnostic.
Start a diagnosticThe consortium is open. Local supply, mentoring slots, investor LP positions, RSC-aligned partnerships — every Rural Valley wires into the place that hosts it. Tell us what you bring.
Join the consortiumApply to the first cohort or to year-round digital residencies. Galicia opens July 2027 — early-bird applications get reviewed first and the priority slots come with founding-cohort terms.
Apply for residency"The future doesn't have to be built where everyone is already looking. Rural Europe has the land, the silence and the people. We bring the bridge."
The first 20 places at the Galicia pilot get founding-cohort terms. Fill in the form and we get back within 48 hours.
We'll get back within 48 hours. Follow us on LinkedIn for build updates in the meantime.