TRUSTEE Sub-project 'Best local practises that favour economic performance'
TRUSTEE is a research cooperation of partners from sixteen European countries (Germany, France, Austria, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Spain, Sweden). The partners cooperate in research on the complex relations between economic development and utilisation and management of resources in rural areas. In order to cope with the complex topic, the project applies an interdisciplinary approach. In Sub-project 3.2 we analyse with own surveys the specific problems and opportunities of selected rural labour markets in four German and French regions. Our research concentrates on the situation of firms and employees from the food processing industry. This concentration allows for a comparison of strategies and influences of external conditions. The food processing industry has been selected as a typical "rural" sector. Moreover, this industry is usually ascribed a low degree of innovativeness. We hope to contribute to the development of a more differentiated perspective, which allows for the recognition of incremental and organisational innovations as well. Thereby we hope to contribute to the assessment of strategies of firms that do not belong to high-tech industries. The Federal Ministry for Education and Research finances the analyses of the Thünen-Institute in the German regions.