The Local for Local consortium project was initiated in response to the structural weakening of local and regional economies across Europe. While digitalisation and globalisation have improved efficiency and connectivity, they have also reduced local economic interconnectedness, weakened SMEs, and increased dependence on external digital and economic infrastructures. Many local communities struggle to retain economic value, support local businesses, and maintain resilient regional ecosystems.
The project is positioned within the framework of the European Union’s Next Generation Internet (NGI) initiative and the Digital Decade objectives. It is based on the principle that digital infrastructures should support human-centred, open, and community-oriented economic systems rather than exclusively centralised platforms. The project therefore aims to develop and validate an open-source modular software stack supporting local digital economic ecosystems and programmable local payment systems.
The project combines technical development with governance research, economic modelling, adoption analysis, and operational validation in real-world pilot environments. Its objective is not only to create software components, but also to establish a reusable and scalable approach for local digital economic infrastructures.
Initially, the project envisaged deployment across multiple municipal and regional pilots. During Reporting Period 1, however, practical constraints such as municipal procurement timelines, governance complexity, and deployment readiness required adjustments to the operational model. The consortium therefore adopted an approach based on collaboration with existing complementary currency ecosystems and Currency Ecosystem Members (CEMs) across Europe. These ecosystems provide operational environments in which technical components, governance approaches, interoperability mechanisms, onboarding models, and transaction systems can be tested under real-world conditions.
The project pathway to impact consists of three interconnected dimensions.
The first dimension is technological impact. The project develops and validates interoperable open-source components supporting decentralised and adaptable local economic infrastructures. The resulting software stack is intended to remain reusable, extensible, and scalable beyond the project lifetime.
The second dimension is socio-economic impact. The project seeks to strengthen local business ecosystems, circular economic models, and regional resilience by stimulating local circulation of value and community participation.
The third dimension is strategic and governance-related impact. By relying on open-source technologies, interoperability, decentralised governance, and community participation, the project contributes to European objectives concerning digital sovereignty, transparency, and human-centric digital transformation.
A key validation environment is the municipal pilot in Kampen, where the Local for Local stack is deployed operationally. In parallel, the broader network of CEM pilots provides comparative evidence across European local currency ecosystems. Together, these activities demonstrate how open and community-driven digital infrastructures can support stronger, more resilient, and sustainable local economies throughout Europe.
