LAMORO Development Agency was founded in 1995 from the initiative of 70 public authorities based in the rural areas of south Piedmont (Italy), with the challenge to create a new economy based on exploitation of local resources, valorisation of territorial identity and human capital development.

There was a strong need to block depopulation of rural areas, to contrast economic crisis and unemployment through the creation of a favourable environment for the attraction of new investments.

History of Success
LAMORO implemented a development strategy in order to support local authorities based on the interaction of public- private partnerships, innovative solutions for the valorisation of traditional resources, fund raising policies at regional, national and European level.

This strategy was mainly applied in the following social and economic sectors:

- Rural development promotion
- SMEs  support as a key role in regional economy
- Environment, landscape and cultural heritage protection
- Equal opportunities and labour policies attention
- Sustainable tourism development

This successful model is highly replicable in many regions, characterized by the same problems and needs, and consists of the following steps:

- stakeholders involvement (local administrations, SMEs, research centres, banks, etc.)
- settlement of regional partnerships
- search of financial sources
- creation of national and international networks
- new investments attraction
- dissemination and exploitation of results.

Commitment and Support
As public equivalent entity LAMORO assists and supports associated authorities belonging to its network in implementing, planning and managing projects concerning local and rural development, energy, capacity building, labour policies, cultural heritage.

Approach
Although pursuing public interest for the territory represented, LAMORO maintains management independence and operative authority in the definition of its strategies and activities development plan.